Wind&Bones Books

Garry MacKenzie’s poem-essay about the Firth of Forth flows implacably forward in time, from the Last Ice Age to the present. In its relentless movement, it sweeps along in its path the sedimented layers of history and literature—stories, texts, and fragments that bear witness to the ecological and human histories of Scotland. As the glacier-scoured land takes its modern shape, the poem reflects on what is carried from the past into the present, and asks how poetry can address the complexity—the accumulated guilt and glory—of the past.

About the Author

Garry MacKenzie’s book-length poem Ben Dorain: a conversation with a mountain was shortlisted for a Scottish National Book Award and long-listed for the Highland Book Prize. He has published two pamphlets with Clutag Press, and his next collection Firth, a portrait of the human and ecological histories of the Firth of Forth, will be published by The Irish Pages Press in 2026.

Glacier is available as a beautiful PDF digital download.

https://books.windandbones.com/product/glacier

Writing and storytelling for social change ✍

Wind&Bones is an independent publisher. We also run projects exploring writing, storytelling and philosophy for social change. We are based between Scotland and Taiwan. Directed by Dr Hannah Stevens & Dr Will Buckingham.

We work with organisations and individuals on projects that bring together writing, creativity and social change.

We take our name from the Medieval Chinese writer, Liu Xie, and his book the Wenxin diaolong (文心雕龍), or The Heart of Literature, the Carving of Dragons.

So cultivate the strength of the wind, and make the bone robust.

蔚彼風力，嚴此骨鯁。

For Liu, writing needs a balance of wind (feng 風) — vitality, life and spiritedness — and bone (gu 骨) — organisation and structure. We take this as good advice not just for writing, but also for social change, and for life.

One for the German speakers! 👇

Writer Hilda Hoy talks to Radio Taiwan International about her book, Mother Tongue.

https://www.rti.org.tw/de/programnews?uid=4&pid=106962

Finding Our Sea-Legs: Ethics, Experience and the Ocean of Stories, by Will Buckingham:

https://books.windandbones.com/product/sea-legs

Wind&Bones Books is a publishing house with its roots in Scotland, but with a global vision. We publish books we care about, including fiction, translation, philosophy and curious hybrid works.

We are run by Wind&Bones CIC, a social enterprise registered in Scotland. At Wind&Bones, we're dedicated to exploring the points of intersection between writing, creativity and social change. We believe writing can and does change the world. Not once and for all, but in small ways and large, sometimes incrementally and at other times dramatically.

In our bookshop, you can order our handsome Wind&Bones Paperback Editions direct from us. We ship our paperbacks all over the world, or you can download our books in EPUB format.

https://books.windandbones.com/products

What an absolute delight it has been seeing Parami University students graduate this week in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Both Wind&Bones Books co-directors Hannah and Will have a long connection of working, teaching and supporting Parami and students since its early beginnings as the Parami Institute of Liberal Arts and Sciences in Yangon, Myanmar.

After the military coup in 2021 an in-person, independent university was no longer possible and now all the teaching is done online. So this in-person graduation is therefore extra special.

It's also wonderful to meet up with some of the Parami staff team who make all of this magic possible.

Not all photos are ours. And not all staff are pictured. But what a day. What a team. And what an amazing achievement for our students, who study and show up in spite of power cuts, threats of military conscription, bombs and much more besides.

In case you missed it 👇🚨

The excitement is building ahead of the publication of Hannah Stevens’ forthcoming collection of stories ON THE BODIES OF STRANGERS and so we thought we would share the endorsements the book has received so far.

‘Meticulously observed and emotionally compelling, this collection shows Hannah Stevens is a vital voice in contemporary short fiction.’ - Victoria MacKenzie

Victoria MacKenzie is a fiction writer, poet and essayist based in Scotland. She is author of For Thy Great Pain Have Mercy On My Little Pain and the forthcoming Each Leaf, Each Curve of Stem.

‘A collection that pulses with yearning for connection and desire for change. Each story captures moments that mark their characters, both figuratively and literally, leaving them transformed in ways both visible and unseen. As finely drawn as a beautiful tattoo, Hannah Steven’s stories reveal both the pain and joy that life can bring, and how a line as thin as that laid down by the tattooist’s needle can lie between the two.’ - Dan Powell

Dan Powell is author of Looking Out of Broken Windows, which was shortlisted for the Scott Prize and longlisted for the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award and the Edge Hill Prize. Dan is currently writer-in-residence at First Story.

‘Hannah Stevens’s stories offer poignant glimpses into complex human lives. They sensitively capture the fluctuating micro-powers of relationships, the casual cruelties and kindnesses people share with each other. As incisive as a tattooist’s needle, they demonstrate that sometimes beautiful things come from pain.’ - Jonathan Taylor

Jonathan Taylor is the author of books including Scablands and Other Stories, Entertaining Strangers and Take Me Home. He is Associate Professor in Creative Writing at the University of Leicester.

ON THE BODIES OF STRANGERS is a collection of short stories linked by the theme of tattoos, exploring marked lives and marked flesh. In 2022 it was shortlisted for the W&A Working Class Writers’ Prize.

These are stories about the chaos of ordinary lives, about people who are flawed, complicated, but always deeply human. From domestic abuse to unexpected friendship, mixing horror and hope, intimacies and lies, ON THE BODIES OF STRANGERS explores the many ways we mark each other and ourselves as we deal with the complexities of human behaviour.

ON THE BODIES OF STRANGERS will be published by Wind&Bones Books on 7th July 2026.

A huge thank you to Vicky, Dan and Jonathan - all brilliant and busy authors - for taking the time to read the advance copy of the book and share such lovely endorsements. It really means a lot to a small publisher like us here at Wind&Bones Books.

Endorsements, events, workshops, publications... all the Wind&Bones Books news here 👇🤓✍

https://www.windandbones.com/posts/