The cover of Carrie's book, Small Town Joy, and two review extracts. 

"An absolute treat of a read... a mixtape lovingly assembled by a friend's cool, knowledgeable older sister." - Gutter Magazine
"Her exploration of queer music's escapist, visionary powers brings joy, not in small neasures." - The Wire
  • A beautiful, sad piece by Jenny Boylan in the NYT on Trump’s latest attack on trans people. We live in a country in which white supremacists march with torches, in which the president mocks the disabled, advocates violence and calls the press the enemy of the people. Was it for this that you voted for Donald Trump? …That’s why I wept.… [more]

  • This is what “reasonable debate” about trans people looks like. Update: that’s not even the maddest thing these yahoos and their supporters have claimed today. Apparently it’s impossible to raise estrogen levels to typical female levels artificially, which is going to be a surprise for the endocrinology profession and the many cisgender women on hormone… [more]

  • It’s not like me to get annoyed by little things. Okay, it’s very like me. And today’s little thing is the language used by Scottish news websites. Here are some examples: Masked thugs firebomb prison guards’ motors [The Sun] Lags at four nicks are getting state-of-the-art football pitches [The Sun] Motors? Lags? Nicks? Who’s writing… [more]

  • Let’s talk about gender recognition. I mean, it’s not as if it’s a controversial subject. [Carrie looks sideways at the camera while comedy music plays] Here’s the thing about the WHO’s long-anticipated removal of “transsexualism” and gender dysphoria from its classification of diseases and disorders: if being trans isn’t a mental disorder, which it isn’t,… [more]

  • There isn’t a single day when I don’t see somebody claiming that trans people are mentally ill and/or degenerates. Here’s some geniuses from this morning. A huge problem is that public awareness of trans people – and of what the medical consensus is about trans people – is incredibly out of date. For a long… [more]

  • Writing on Twitter, co-founder Ev Williams (@ev) talks about the problem of abuse and harassment on the platform. *And*, yes, we (Twitter) should have invested more heavily in abuse before. I think we did more in the early days than we often get credit for (and they are doing way more today). *And* I personally… [more]

  • Live by social media, die by losing your social media accounts. [more]

  • This is where it leads. The “reasonable concerns”. The “just asking questions”. The denial of science. The platforming of extremists who seem like such nice people. The endless articles telling you trans people are dangerous. The Trump administration says it’s okay to let trans people die. Under the discrimination administration’s latest plans, healthcare can be… [more]

  • This has been my view for the last few days. I’m on a music production course at the Academy of Music and Sound in Glasgow. The course is free, and I’d thoroughly recommend it; you can also study composition and songwriting, and the Academy also runs seminars on subjects such as Women in the Music… [more]

  • This week, SNP MP Joan McAlpine is hosting the Canadian anti-trans activist Meghan Murphy. Murphy, who has been given a lifetime ban from Twitter for the targeted harassment of trans people, says she is not transphobic; she just wants to “ensure the safety of women in places like female prisons, women’s refuges, and changing rooms”.… [more]

Read me in books

My debut memoir, Carrie Kills A Man, was a Scotsman book of the year and Damian Barr’s Literary Salon book of the week, and it was shortlisted for the 2023 British Book Awards book of the year in the Discover category.

My latest book, Small Town Joy, is a celebration of queer influences on and queer artists in Scots music and is out now.

I’m also a contributor to the excellent anthology Fierce Salvage, which is also out now.

A photo of the book Carrie Kills A Man.