Gutter

Gutter is an award-winning, high quality, printed journal for fiction and poetry, with Scottish root

The editors of Gutter believe there is a need for an energetic, ambitious magazine dedicated exclusively to the best in new Scottish creative writing. Gutter is an award-winning, high quality, printed journal for fiction and poetry from writers born or living in Scotland. Gutter periodically invites submissions of up to 3,000 words of fiction (short stories, novel extracts) or 120 lines of poetry.

Preference will be given to provocative work that challenges, re-imagines or undermines the individual or collective status quo. We are also interested in work that relates Scotland to an international context. Gutter magazine is published in Scotland by Gutter Magazine Ltd.

09/04/2024

The Gutter team are over the moon to welcome April Hill to the magazine!

April's taking on the role of Social Media Manager, so will be out here front and centre, sharing the news of all that Gutter has to offer.

Writing under the name Lady Red Ego, April’s poetry has appeared in a variety of anthologies and journals, and her debut collection, Your Turn to Speak!, was published by Blue Diode Press in 2023. April has also previously been a Guest Reader here at Gutter, on Issue 25.

We can't wait to see how she'll refresh and invigorate our online presence, helping more readers encounter the incredible work Gutter publishes!

https://www.guttermag.co.uk/news/welcome-to-april-hill

02/04/2024

The Gutter team is delighted to welcome Katie Goh, who has taken on the role of Prose Reviews Editor. Katie has a wealth of writing and editing experience that she’ll bring to the magazine.

Together with our Poetry Reviews Editor Sean Wai Keung, Katie will oversee some changes to Gutter’s reviews section in the coming months, including a regular online review series that will be launched in June.

‘Katie is a tremendous talent,’ said Managing Editor Malachy Tallack. ‘She brings a great deal of knowledge about new Scottish writing together with energy and enthusiasm for this role. As Gutter continues to grow and develop, we’re very lucky to have her on board.’

https://www.guttermag.co.uk/news/katie-goh-joins-gutter

28/03/2024

We have a brand new website! https://www.guttermag.co.uk/

This week, Gutter has launched a new, expanded website. From now on, we’ll be publishing a limited selection of work from each issue online, along with reviews and occasional pieces from the archive. Right now you can read a glittering handful of pieces from issues #28 and #29, you can choose any of our subscription options, and you can find out much more about the magazine.

You can also sign up for our newsletter, The Gutter Press, which we’ll be launching later this spring. Once a month, we’ll update you with new stories, essays, poems and reviews, along with news and opportunities for writers and readers. It’s the best way to keep up-to-date with what’s new at Gutter.

14/03/2024

Tonight! A slight change in the line-up as Daisy Lafarge is no longer able to join us, but we've still got a STACKED line-up and two great hosts. See you there for readings, drinks and shenanigans!

12/03/2024

Don't forget, our first of two Issue 29 launches is tomorrow, at Typewronger Books, featuring Olivia Calderon, Colin McGuire and Devki Panchmatia! Kicking off at 7pm, it's free and unticketed, so make sure you get down in time to grab a seat.

Accessibility information: Typewronger is a basement shop, accessible via steps; seating will be provided.

06/03/2024

Imagine Something Different at Paisley Book Festival 📚☁️

We are delighted to announce our fantastic programme of events for

The 2024 Paisley Book Festival, themed "Imagine Something Different," invites attendees to embark on a transformative journey, embracing the festival's renowned radical edge.

This years theme encourages exploration beyond conventional boundaries, seeking out radical new ideas and envisioning a better future. Through a diverse programme that challenges and inspires, the festival aims to open minds to the endless possibilities of imagination, aligning perfectly with its ethos of innovation and cultural exploration.

Find out more and book your tickets here 👉 bit.ly/PBF24Programme

06/03/2024

04/03/2024

We're having a launch! In fact - we're having two, back-to-back!

We'll be at Edinburgh's Typewronger Books on the 13th of March, featuring readings from Olivia Calderon, Colin McGuire, and Devki Panchmatia. Your hosts for the evening will be guest reader Gabrielle Tse, and editor Sean Wai Keung.

Then, a day later on the 14th, we'll be at The Alchemy Experiment in Glasgow, featuring readings from Daisy Lafarge, Julie Laing, Mel Reeve, Asiye Betül and Stewart Sanderson. Your hosts for the evening will be editors Laura Waddell and Calum Rodger.

Each event is free, unticketed, and start at 7pm. See you there!

29/02/2024

On today's Gutter blog, guest reader Gabrielle Tse reflects on three of her favourite poems from issue #29, her time working with the team on Gutter Magazine - and the poetic possibilities of fleeting cows...

Each issue, we invite guest readers from Scotland’s BPoC writing community to help curate Gutter. For issue #29, we were thrilled to work with Gabrielle Tse, a poet whose experience and work has appeared in ArtAsiaPacific, Interpret Magazine, The Hong Kong Review, and Outcrop Poetry. In today’s ...

19/02/2024

We're delighted to announce our next guest reader for Gutter: Sara Mostafa!

Sara is an Egyptian writer and poet who recently acquired her MLitt from the University of Glasgow. She is an avid reader and poetry performer. Open-mic nights are her favourite place to be.

We can't wait to work with her on Issue 30 - and remember, our submissions window is only open until March 16th!

16/02/2024

Gutter's submission window is now open!

We're accepting fiction, poetry, essays, and anything of the written word that doesn't neatly fit into form or genre.

Deadline for submissions is a month from today, March 16th. Get in!

Gutter is a magazine of new Scottish and international writing, dedicated to creating space for poetry, fiction and essays in Scotland and beyond. We look for work that challenges, re-imagines or undermines the status quo; that pushes at the boundaries of form and function; that is striking and beau...

14/02/2024

Happy Valentines Day! Get into the mood, with a disgraced politician and some alkyl nitrites!

It's a romance for the ages, but if you think you know where Okala Elesia's 'Exit, Ghost' goes next, trust us, you really don't...

Subscribe today and get issue #29 as your first Gutter!
https://guttermag.co.uk/subscribe

06/02/2024

Gutter #29 has arrived!

Featuring an interview with the inimitable Rachel McCrum, musings on AI literature by Carrie Marshall, and all the best prose and poetry we could get our hands on.

Subscribe today via our site, get Issue #29 as your first Gutter ! https://guttermag.co.uk/subscribe

02/02/2024

With Gutter welcoming a new Managing Editor, we must absolutely also wish a heartfelt thank you and goodbye to Kate MacLeary, who is moving on to pastures new. Across a decade working with the magazine Kate has fulfilled almost every role and it is no exaggeration to say that without her passion, her ideas, her style and her drive, there is no way that Gutter Magazine would still be here on the eve of its thirtieth issue. She has helped Gutter to stand on its own, shaped the look, feel and future of the magazine; and given a great deal of herself to the work. We’d like to thank her and to wish her nothing but the happiness and success she deserves in her next project. Bon voyage, Kate!

31/01/2024

Big news! Gutter is thrilled to welcome Malachy Tallack as the magazine’s new Managing Editor.

With experience on Shetland Life and The Island Review, and a strong vision for Gutter’s future, Malachy stood out as the ideal candidate.

Welcome, Malachy!

Gutter is thrilled to welcome Malachy Tallack as the magazine’s new Managing Editor. With past experience editing Shetland Life , the founding of online magazine The Island Review , a comprehensive familiarity with Scotland’s literary network, and a strong vision for Gutter’s future, Malachy s...

15/12/2023

Today on the Gutter blog, the last of Issue 28's spotlights, with mentions of explorations of stone, speaking directly to God, and stepping outside of comfort zones, from Kate Millar, Bethany Wren & Parel Joy.

One of the greatest privileges of publishing Gutter, is being able to connect with writers familiar and new. Each issue, we’ll shine a spotlight on some of our contributors, to discover more about what inspires them, and where they hope their writing takes them next. Today, it’s our pleasure to ...

15/12/2023

📣 Applications are now open! 📣

We're incredibly excited to announce that Moniack Mhor, Scotland's Creative Writing Centre, StAnza, Scotland's International Poetry Festival and PEN Ukraine, are inviting applications to Phrases - New Poets in Translation. Eight poets from Scotland and Ukraine will explore cultural exchange and collaboration through a hybrid digital/in-person translation residency.

Deadline: Monday, 8th January 2024, 5pm GMT

Applications are open to emerging poets, age 18-35, living in Scotland or Ukraine, and we encourage applications from writers who may experience marginalisation, as well as writers working in Gaelic and Scots.

More information on the eligibility criteria and the details of the residency programme on our website: https://buff.ly/3um6X6i

This programme is organised with the financial support of the UK/UA Creative Partnerships programme, designed by the British Council and the Ukrainian Institute - Український інститут.

15/12/2023

PLEASE REPOST🐇

Poor Things x The Alasdair Gray Archive panel discussion

Join us for a screening of at at 7pm on Monday 22nd January 2024 with a post film discussion with Sorcha Dallas (Custodian of The Alasdair Gray Archive), Rodge Glass .glass (novelist and Alasdair Gray’s biographer) and Rachel Loughran (curator and designer of Poor Things: A Novel Guide), hosted by GFT Programme Manager Paul Gallagher.

Very limited tickets available, via link in our bio or on the website!

See you there!

🐇🐇🐇

Poster design by

‘Poor Things: A Novel Guide’ is a digital exploration of Gray’s 1992 multi-award winning novel, rooting back into the places and showcasing the people who inspired it, discover it now… under PROJECTS on our website!

04/12/2023

Today on the Gutter blog, we catch up with Issue 28 contributors Claire Reynolds and Eleanor Simpson, to chat attraction, therapy, poetry, and their dream guests at a ✨literary salon!✨

https://t.co/emNRDjRrid

28/11/2023

Only a few days left to submit Alasdair Gray-inspired proposals to our collaboration with The Alasdair Gray Archive, for a chance to explore the site, respond to the collection, and get published in Issue 30 of Gutter - check out the blog for more information!

Gutter Magazine and The Alasdair Gray Archive are looking to commission a new work of poetry or prose. We’re teaming up to support a creative interpretation responding to the life, work or material at The Alasdair Gray Archive. 2024 would have been Alasdair’s 90th birthday. The commission will b...

27/11/2023

Coming up this week at CCA (27 November - 3 December)…

🧱 Don’t miss your last chance to see Ditch Me, our exhibition from Rhona Mühlebach! Slip across time with Rhona’s multi-channel installation exploring a playful and absurd reimagining of Scotland’s Antonine Wall. (https://www.cca-glasgow.com/programme/ditch-me)

🎞 Join Inclinations Film Club and James Kelman to listen to Kelman’s Seven Stories, followed by a screening of Alain Cavalier’s cult classic Libera Me. This event concludes with a live conversation with Kelman! (https://www.cca-glasgow.com/programme/libera-me-seven-stories-by-james-kelman)

🫒 ‘Ouroboros’ is Basma alSharif's first feature film – an experimental film in homage to the Gaza Strip and to the possibility of hope based on the eternal return. This event we will be fundraising for Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) (https://www.cca-glasgow.com/programme/in-solidarity-basma-al-sharif-ouroboros)

🐩 Our new Intermedia exhibition, Trophy Room by Tulani Hlalo, continues! This exhibition uses creative competitive dog grooming as a way to explore belonging, and how identity is defined and changed. (https://www.cca-glasgow.com/prog.../tulani-hlalo-trophy-room)

🍵 How do objects hold the memories and histories of our lives? Join artist and filmmaker Alia Syed for a storytelling workshop that invites you to shift the stories that make us who we are into different contexts and forms. (https://www.cca-glasgow.com/whats-on/collection/living-history-workshops)

📖 Join the Scottish Writers' Centre for a talk with writer and poet G. W. Colkitto, exploring the path he took to being published and the challenges he faced along the way. (https://www.cca-glasgow.com/programme/from-page-to-print-shake-the-kaleidoscope-w-g-w-colkitto)

🌋 Join Aye-Aye Books for the launch of an expanded republication of Berita Gunung Berapi. Contributor Adam Bobbette, will be joined by Alexander Supartono; art historian, curator, educator, and member of Taring Padi collective. (https://www.cca-glasgow.com/programme/volcanic-book-launch-the-pulse-of-the-earth-berita-gunung-berapi)

🎸 Move On Up invites disabled and neurodiverse young adults to come together and form bands, creating space for them to write and perform music together! Join them to celebrate the music they’ve made, at this relaxed live performance (https://www.cca-glasgow.com/programme/musicall-presents-move-on-up-showcase)

27/11/2023

27/11/2023

10/11/2023

Today on our blog, we turn the Gutter Spotlight on Issue #28 contributors Taylor Strickland, Morag Smith & Flora Leask, for thoughts on suburbia, ancient grains, and more book recommendations than you can fit on one reasonably-sized shelf!

https://www.guttermag.co.uk/blog/strickland-smith-leask

03/11/2023

Gutter Magazine and The Alasdair Gray Archive are teaming up to support a creative interpretation responding to the life, work or material at The Alasdair Gray Archive!

More information on the commission can be found on our blog:

17/10/2023

Today on the blog, we check in with Issue #28 contributors Ryan Ormonde & Ruby Lawrence, to find out a little more about their work, their writing rituals, and the 'taste of a generation'!

https://www.guttermag.co.uk/blog/ormonde-lawrence

16/10/2023

Call for Volunteers! 📣

To make happen, we need a crack team of volunteers to support the festival.

• Be a welcoming face at the front desk
• Support audience members around building
• Artist liaison
• Support tech and set up
• Receive volunteer training
• Gain valuable experience working in a world class arts venue and festival environment
• Opportunities to see some of our amazing programme!

For more information & to sign up, click the link here: https://tinyurl.com/5bcna69j

12/10/2023

Midweek reminder: Gutter seeks a new Managing Editor!

This part time position would suit a freelancer, dedicating a few hours per average week, and more intensive working around production dates. For a full description of the role, visit our blog:

https://www.guttermag.co.uk/blog/job-listing-gutters-managing-editor

09/10/2023

Say hello to Gutter's newest guest reader: Gabrielle Tse!

Having been an editorial intern for ArtAsiaPacific, a publication focusing on APAC art and culture, and with writing in Interpret Magazine, The Hong Kong Review, and Outcrop Poetry, we're thrilled to have her join us in selecting poetry for Issue 30!

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Videos

We're sitting on a secret! The cover design for Gutter Issue 18 has been finalised - and it's easily one of our favourites since Issue 20's redesign! Can you guess the colour combo we've gone for this time? Even if you don't get it right, you might... uh... provide inspiration for Issue 29... 😉

It’s nearly here! 🎄 We haven’t been pushing gift subscriptions this year as Issue 26 is very nearly sold out! Instead we’ve been distributing these copies to bookshops far and wide, thanks to distribution whizz Cal Bannerman so that people can find them in store. We encourage you to shop local and support your local bookshops, who we’ve loved working with this year. Thanks for bearing with us during this mad busy period! 🙏

The time has come, the manuscript is assembled, and we’re getting ready to email successful contributors by the end of this week! Thank you for your patience. If you submitted work you should be hearing from us very soon 🖊️ 📖⚡️

Exciting news: we are on the cusp of pulling together Gutter #26, and we recieved our highest ever number of submissions! And that means... well, a lot of reading. We aim to reply by the end of May to everyone who sent us work - and in the meantime, thank you for your patience!

It's a kind of magic - editor Kate pulled a smooth switcheroo on Instagram to reveal the new issue, and we're still not quite sure how she did it...

🎙SEAN WAI KEUNG - POET & GUTTER GUEST READER 🎙 We were lucky enough to have Glasgow poet @seanwaikeung as our first Guest Reader. In this short video he summarises his experience and tells us why he thinks YOU should apply! 👉 The current Guest Reader vacancy closes on Monday 31st January, so you have just a couple of days left to submit an application 📝 This placement is a great opportunity for young BAME individuals with an interest in editing and magazine production and we’d love to hear from you.

Happy #NationalPoetryDay! To celebrate, it is our pleasure and privilege to introduce our guest reader for Issue #25, Lady Red Ego!

Herbie, by Susannah Wise

It's #NationalPoetryDay - and to mark it, Susannah Wise has recorded a reading of her poem 'Herbie'. It was one of the highly commended poems in our Edwin Morgan competition featured in Issue #24 - it's a real treat to hear it read so wonderfully!

Gutter Celebrates Gray Day 2021

Kate MacLeary from the Gutter team helping us remember Alasdair Gray on the first #grayday - a celebration of the 40th Anniversary of the publication of Lanark. Gray meant a lot to us, contributing his last interview in Gutter #20 (https://www.guttermag.co.uk/blog/alasdair-gray-1934-2019) and also this wonderful extract from his translation of Dante's Inferno in Gutter #12 that Kate has set to music Alasdair liked to listen to. We hope you enjoy this wee tribute to him, as Alasdair says "Everyone who makes something that survives them has overcome death" and he has left such a huge creative legacy for us to cherish.

📢📢📢GUTTER #24 SUBMISSIONS ARE NOW OPEN UNTIL MARCH 15TH! 📢📢📢

📢 SOUND THE SUBMISSIONS KLAXON! Gutter #24 is now open for submissions until March 15th. Get your writing ragtime vibe on and send us your work now! ✍️😄👯‍♂️