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Lindsay Macrae

Lindsay MacRae was born in 1961 to Scottish parents. Her Great Aunts Peigi and Mairi MacRae were famous Gaelic bards from the Hebridean island of South Uist.

At university, she studied Drama and then Film and Television. After college, she sang and played saxophone in various pop groups before moving to Rome where she worked as a newsreader for Vatican Radio. This was followed by jobs in the record industry and journalism before becoming a television presenter for various youth and arts programmes that included Network 7, Rough Guide to Careers and Right to Reply. Most recently, Lindsay was the first Literature Development Worker in London.

Lindsay wrote her first poem when she was seven (about a dog) and has been writing doggerel ever since - a reviewer once described her style as "poetry that bites". Her earliest influences include Spike Milligan, Adrian Mitchell and Langston Hughes.

Since leaving school she has performed her poetry live in pubs, clubs, arts centres and schools all over the country, as well as on Radio 1 and BBC TV. She has run many popular poetry and cabaret clubs: Angels of Fire, LIP, The Hard Edge and The Steam Room. Her poetry for adults has appeared in several anthologies and she was co-editor of Dancing the Tightrope, a collection of women's love poetry.

Lindsay became a full-time poet in 1993. You Canny Shove Yer Granny Off a Bus is her first book for children. Her only regret is that she's never owned a gerbil.

NAME:
Lindsay Macrae

PLACE & DATE OF BIRTH:
Bridlington, Yorkshire, 23/04/61

FAVOURITE BOOK:
I Capture The Castle by Dodie Smith

FAVOURITE SONG:
Someone To Watch Over Me by Ella Fitzgerald

MOST TREASURED POSSESSION:
A shepherds crook that a friend made for me from a holly bush.

FAVOURITE FILM:
It’s a Wonderful Life directed by Frank Capra

When did you start writing?
I started writing poems when I was about 7 or 8, which my mum would type up for me and send to relatives. I was lucky enough to have really good teachers, who encouraged me to keep writing as I got older.

Where do you get your ideas and inspiration from?
My family and friends, children in the schools that I visit, but mostly just from watching people and listening to the peculiar things that they say and do.

Can you give your top 3 tips to becoming a successful author?
1. Keep writing as you get older. It’s not that published authors are the best writers in the world, it’s just that they stick at it!
2. Try and keep a diary every day so you can be practise writing and get all of the embarrassing rubbish out of your system.
3. Read as much as you can. You cannot be a good writer unless you read a lot.

Favourite memory?
Waking up beside my daughter, Kitty, the morning after she was born.

Favourite place in the world and why?
Rome, Italy. Wonderful City, easy-going friendly people, great weather and fantastic food. I went to live there for a year when I was twenty five and ended up as a news reader for the Vatican!

What are your hobbies?
Walking in the countryside, cooking and dancing around my sitting room when I feel depressed. I also love reading, especially detective stories.

If you hadn’t been a writer what do you think you would have been?
I would love to have been an opera singer, but wasn’t quite good enough to have got into music college.