The first 40 under 40 list has been compiled by the Saltire Society made up of 40 talented creative Scots.
The outstanding talent comes from the areas of Literature and Publishing, Applied Sciences, Languages, Performing Arts and Visual Arts. The Society wants to bring them to public notice during the early to mid stages of their careers. The nominees were judged by a panel of experts with playwrights, singers, poets, climate activists, illustrators, printmakers, actors, musicians and a ground-breaking dentist.
Sarah Mason, Executive Director of The Saltire Society, said “We had an extraordinary number of talented young people nominated from every corner of Scotland, including Shetland, Orkney and Tiree, through Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow and into the borders and Dumfries & Galloway across all five categories. It goes to show the incredible range of creative talent living and working in Scotland today. We are thrilled to reveal our ‘40 Under 40’ and celebrate the very best of the best.”
The panel of experts appointed by the Saltire Society to judge the hundreds of names put forward were Rosemary Ward, Alan Bissett, Steve Parkes, Zoe Strachan and Calum Colvin.
Literature & Publishing
Shehzar Doja (Poet & editor)
Harry Josephine Giles (Poet & novelist)
Pauline McKay (Academic specialising in Scottish literature)
Alicia Pirmohamed (Poet)
Maria Sledmere (Poet, editor, educator & critic)
Stef Smith (Playwright)
Roseanne Watt (Poet, film maker & musician)
Alasdair C Whyte (Gaelic singer, presenter & scholar)
Applied Sciences
Beatriz Goulao (Statistician)
Jack-James Marlow (Space Rocket Engineer)
Mhairi McCann (Founder & CEO of Youth STEM 2030)
Niall McGoldrick (Dentist)
Zahra Rattray (Senior Lecturer in Translational Pharmaceutics and Interdisciplinary Scientist)
Yasmin Sulaiman (Head of Partnerships, CodeBase)
Talat Yaqoob (Campaigner, Writer & Commentator)
Laura Young (Climate Influencer / Activist)
Languages
Iona Brown (Gaelic teacher & singer)
Iona Fyfe (Singer)
Emma Grae (Author & Journalist)
Alistair Heather (Journalist)
Linda MacLeod (Gaelic singer & TV Presenter)
Ellen Pennie (Poet)
Lana Pheutan (Gaelic singer, writer & actor)
Ian Smith (Accordion Player & Musician)
Visual Arts
Jennifer Argo (Multi-media artist)
Flora Collingwood Norris (Textile designer)
Michael Doherty (Portrait artist)
Rhona Jack (Multi-disciplinary artist)
Zephyr Liddell (Textile artist)
Sekai Machache (Photographer & multi-media artist)
Lily Macrae (Painter & printmaker)
Joshua Wilson (Illustrator)
Performing Arts
Kevin P. Gilday (Spoken word artist, theatre maker)
Emma Hay (Programme manager)
Kieran Hurley (Writer, performer, theatre Maker)
Danielle Jam (Actor)
Reuben Joseph (Actor)
Isobel McArthur (Theatre maker & actor)
Rachel Sermanni (Scottish folk & indie musician)
Robyn Stapleton (Scots singer)
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
