Hello. I am greum maol stevenson.
I am a Scottish (not British) author, poet, essayist, Zen Buddhist monk and community activist. I was born in Glasgow's G20 postcode, and after years of travelling widely – including 22 years in America during which i lived in Arizona, Tennessee, and Oregon – i returned home when Donald Trump got elected. I am an ecosocialist, supporter of Scottish independence (but not a nationalist), privacy, social housing, universal healthcare, universal basic income, public transport, and right to the city. I served for a year on the National Committee of Living Rent.
I have written more than a dozen books, and hundreds of articles, stories and poems, published under various pen names, including Barry Graham. I was a founding contributor to, and associate editor of, Rebel Inc. The Times called me "a young master," back when i was young and masterful. Details (RIP) called me "one of the real literary finds," back when i was found to be real literary. My novel The Book of Man was chosen as a best book of 1995 by the American Library Association. My novel The Champion's New Clothes, first published in 1991, came out in French translation in 2021, and won the Prix Marianne. I witnessed two executions in Arizona, invited by the men about to be killed, not the state. My reporting on the death penalty won a Folio Silver Medal, and was published in my book Why I Watch People Die.
My bylines currently vary, depending on the form. I write non-genre fiction as g.m. stevenson, poetry in English as greum maol, poetry in Scots as maol, and noir and horror fiction as grm stvnsn. My Dharma name is dogo.
My poetry is published regularly on Buddhistdoor, but is just as likely to be found, with no byline, on stickers on city walls. I lead writing workshops in schools and prisons, and give performances in which i recite sections of my novels from memory.
I am not on Fcbk or Twttr or Nstgrm, or any other media run by surveillance capitalism.
If you want to ask me anything, you are welcome to email me.
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