Gender-critical authors demand apology from Scottish literary chief

The Chief Executive of the Scottish Book Trust has been called on to apologise after describing two gender-critical authors as “vile and jeering trolls”.

Marc Lambert made the comments about the poet Magi Gibson and her husband Ian Macpherson, a comic novelist, on X (formerly Twitter).

The pair have said the trust's revised code of conduct, which urges authors to guarantee they will not tolerate bigotry or transphobia, would be “weaponised” against women with gender-critical views.

Gibson wrote on X that the code "creates a chilling effect on free speech, esp for GC [gender critical] authors".

In an exchange on the social media site, Lambert said Gibson and Macpherson had targeted him, made false claims and been abusive. 

He wrote: “You and your husband trolled me and my chair for many months. Your husband in particular was jeering and vile.

“That is: making false claims; claiming we won’t engage when you’ve gone straight to the press; jeering, provocative emails and relentlessly pushing to learn the identities of those at the Scottish Book Trust responsible for making policy (for reasons I cannot fathom).”

Gibson, who is a former reader-in-residence at Glasgow Women’s Library, disputed Lambert's claims and challenged him to provide evidence.

She wrote: “I would also very much like him to apologise to me for making such a sustained, unevidenced, and yes, ‘vile’ attack on me on Twitter/X and impugning my good character with downright lies and accusations like ‘incivility’."

Macpherson denied he had been “jeering and vile”.