Agnes Owens was married twice and raised seven children, and worked as a cleaner, typist and factory worker. Her books include People Like That and For the Love of Willie, which was shortlisted for the 1998 Stakis Prize. Her short stories appeared alongside those of her friends and fellow authors James Kelman and Alasdair Gray in Lean Tales. Bad Attitudes, which consists of two novellas ('Bad Attitudes' and 'Jen's Party'), was longlisted for the 2003 Saltire Literary Awards. She died in 2014.

Liz Lochhead was born in Motherwell in 1947. While studying at the Glasgow School of Art she began to write seriously, gradually losing her way with her initial dream of becoming a painter. Her first book of poetry, Memo for Spring, was published in 1972 and sold 5,000 copies. The Scottish-Canadian Writers Exchange Fellowship,1978-9, marked her transition to full-time writer. She has since published several plays and poetry collections including A Choosing and most recently Fugitive Colours. Liz Lochhead was Scots Makar from 2011-2016.