Ortelius' Seamonsters
Moving, affecting, tight and concise but imaginative and blistering with gorgeous sounds and imagery.' Vasiliki Albedo.
'These poems are fabulous, in every sense of that word. I'm not at all surprised that this pamphlet was the winner. They work on so many levels. But I think what gets me is how very human they are - dressed as they are in fantastical garb. I loved them.' Enda Coyle-Greene, Artistic Director of the Fingal Festival, Ireland.
Flout
There is a distilled sense to these poems that makes them pure and keen.' The Bottle Imp, ASLS, Glasgow University
'Flout, if it is not a dance, should be one. These poems dance. I swear I could feel the movement throughout. .. There's no posturing - just a real voice saying sometimes unreal things.' Enda Coyle-Green.
Her poetry pamphlet 'Ortelius' Sea-Monsters' won the Alastair Reid prize, Wigtown, 2023. She was the 2nd prize winner in the Poetry Wales Award, 2022. She has been shortlisted in many competitions: the Wigtown single poem (2023), Aesthetica (2023), Bridport (2015) and Strokestown (2009). She was commended in the Troubadour International Poetry competition, (2023) and in the Telegraph competition (2026).
Recipient of New Writer Award 2007, several Creative Scotland Awards (2010-15), selected for Best Poems published in Scotland (2004/5). Writer in Residence at the Glass department, Edinburgh Art College (2004-5) and resulting pamphlet shortlisted for the Callum McDonald Award (2005/6).
Her poems have been published in Best Scottish Poems 2005, Butcher's Dog, the Edinburgh Review, Glasgow Review of Books, the Honest Ulsterman, Ink, Sweat and Tears, Magma, New Writing Scotland (ASLS), Northwords Now, Oxford School of Poetry Review, Poetry Scotland, Poetry Wales, New Welsh Review, Red Wheelbarrow and Rialto amongst others.
She has collaborated with many artistes in other genres. And also works as a librettist for the composer Fraser David Macdonald. See Collaborations.
4 drama-documentaries broadcast for the 'History in Evidence' series scripts on BBC Schools, Radio (1970s).
As Event Organiser:
'Poetry in the Persian Tent' was a 5-day (one hour each day) mini-festival of poetry and music in Edinburgh, 2012 organised by Stephanie for charity Young MacDonald had a farm for Africa in association with Oxfam. Poets included John Glenday, Jackie Kay, Marie Howe, Liz Lochhead and many others.
PoetryLit, an online monthly poetry event with readings and Q and A. She was co-selector of poets with founder and m.c. Milla Van Der Have. Started to counteract lockdown blues, it proved immensely popular and attracted global audiences. After 5 years, it ended with a two-day festival of a selection of past featured poets on 13th-14th September, 2025. Selected past readings can be viewed on PoetryLit's You Tube site.
Stephanie at Skerries, County Dublin, with a view of the Mountains of Mourne in the background, sitting on the seat dedicated to her ancestor, Percy French, who composed the song 'The Mountains of Mourne sweep down to the sea'. September, 2015.
Winner of the Alastair Reid Prize, Wigtown Book Festival, 2023,
Short-listed for the Callum McDonald Award, 2005.
Poetry pamphlet published by HappenStance, 2015.
'The Triple Spiral' novel for Young Adults published by Walker Books, 1989.