Micro-bio, one line:
Ryan Vance is a designer, writer and editor based in Glasgow.
Short Bio, 50 words:
Ryan Vance is a designer, writer and editor based in Glasgow. They’ve worked with Gutter Magazine, Lethe Press, The Saltire Society, and Paisley Book Festival. They published One Man’s Trash (2021) with Lethe Press, and co-edited two anthologies with 404 Ink, We Were Always Here (2019) and Fierce Salvage (2025).
Medium Bio, 100 words:
Ryan Vance is a designer, writer and editor based in Glasgow. They’ve designed covers and interiors for Lethe Press, The Saltire Society, and Taproot Press, among others. They designed event identity for Paisley Book Festival 2023 & 2024, and are part of the editorial collective behind Gutter, Scotland’s leading literary magazine. In 2018 they created Queer Words Project Scotland, a mentoring scheme for emerging queer writers in Scotland, and co-edited two associated anthologies, We Were Always Here (2019) and Fierce Salvage (2025), published by 404 Ink. Their debut short story collection, One Man’s Trash (2021) was published by Lethe Press.
Long Bio, 350 words:
Ryan Vance is a designer, writer and editor based in Glasgow. A literary jack of all trades, their career timeline is messy.
They hold an MA in English Literature from the University of Glasgow (2008) and an HND in Communications Design from Glasgow Metropolitan College (2010). After a decade of freelance identity design alongside being a greengrocer, a porter, a cook, a designer at Print Box (2012-2016), and a bookseller at John Smith’s Bookshop (2016-2020), they now specialise in publication design. Since 2020 they’ve designed book covers and interiors for Lethe Press, The Saltire Society, 404 Ink and Taproot Press, among others.
Between 2010 and 2016, they produced eight issues of The Queen’s Head, a literary zine of speculative fiction. In 2016, they shortlisted for the Scottish Book Trust’s new writers award, and in 2022 were awarded a place on the Trust’s Debut Lab. They began reviewing for Scotland’s leading literary publication, Gutter Magazine, in 2014, took on the role of reviews editor in 2016, joined the collective as an editor in 2018, and became the in-house designer in 2019, when the magazine re-launched as a workers collective. During that time, between 2016 and 2018, edited fiction for The Island Review, a site dedicated to all things archipelago. Working with OneRen, Paisley’s sports and culture charity, they designed the event identity for Paisley Book Festival 2023 & 2024.
In 2018 they created the mentoring scheme Queer Words Project Scotland, and co-edited two associated anthologies, We Were Always Here (2019) and Fierce Salvage (2025), both published by 404 Ink. After self-publishing Minor Mishaps in 2020, Lethe Press published their debut short story collection, One Man’s Trash, in 2021.
Since 2014, their work has appeared in Out There, New Writing Scotland, Gutter, F[r]iction, Glasgow Review of Books, and beyond. Their most recent work is An Honourable Place (2024) a self-published collaborative storytelling game about cults, apocalypses and symbols. They’ve recently rediscovered a love for film photography, and developed an interest in ceramics. They are currently seeking representation for their debut novel, Leftovers, a dark comedy about apathy, climate collapse, and haunted vegetables.