Katalina Watt
Hi, I’m Katalina and I joined Creative Scotland as full-time Literature Officer in July 2021.
After graduating from the University of Glasgow with a degree in English Literature, I worked in Audio for Little Brown Book Group, part of Hachette UK. Then I moved to Canada for a couple of years and worked as a bookseller, specialising in Children’s and Young Adults books. During this time, it was fascinating to gain an international view of the publishing sector and learn about the plethora of organisations, festivals, and bookshops.
I returned to Scotland to undertake an MSc in Publishing at Edinburgh Napier University, where I obtained a holistic overview of the book industry and wrote my dissertation on academic and trade editions of Carlos Bulosan’s ‘America Is In the Heart’ through the lens of online social review platform Goodreads. While studying, I also worked in events and bookselling for Golden Hare Books, where I had the pleasure of being introduced to the work of many talented and passionate folk in the Scottish literary sector.
Prior to joining Creative Scotland, I worked in Audio and Digital for Canongate Books and sat on their EDI committee. I’m a strong advocate for the exciting possibilities of digital technologies in storytelling artforms. In 2020 I was awarded Literature Alliance Scotland’s Next Level Award and had the honour of undertaking training as well as industry networking and mentoring, with a particular focus on arts organisations and literary agenting.
I’m also Audio Director for khōréō, a speculative fiction magazine for immigrant and diaspora authors, so I have a great interest in genre literature and platforming underrepresented voices. I’m also an author, Longlisted for Penguin WriteNow 2020, and an event moderator for wonderful festivals and bookshops including Cymera Festival, FIYAHCON, and SQIFF among others. Therefore, I’m passionate about diverse literary event programming and empowering authors with financial literacy and a foundational understanding of the literary eco-system.
I hope my multi-faceted experiences across various parts of the literary sector stand me in good stead to support individual creators and arts organisations. The entire Literature team are always happy to chat about funding projects and supporting applications, so feel free to drop us a line! You can get in touch with me at: Katalina.Watt@creativescotland.com.
