I write poems and stories, run a wee B&B, and I’ll probably have a Luno toy in my pocket.

I’m Sam Steele — a poet, children’s author and a reluctant performer who lives and works from a small B&B in Inverness. I was born in Canada and grew up between England and Canada, but I feel most at home under a Highland sky. My accent is mid-Atlantic, but my poems are unabashedly Scottish: the landscape, the food (yes, there’s a poem about haggis), the people and the small day-to-day things that add up to a life worth noticing.

The first poems I wrote were while I was serving in the Falkland Islands with the Royal Air Force. Farewell speeches began as verses: I read what was expected, then I amended it, and before long, I was writing my own. That was the start — two decades in the Canadian and UK forces, with postings from the Falklands to Rwanda, near misses and solemn moments. I hold those years close, but most of my work centres on the lighter stuff: wordplay that delights the mind, small domestic obsessions (Jammie Dodgers, finding the end of the Sellotape), and the endless frustrations of being tied to technology.

I write for children and adults. My children’s picture books — Santa’s Adventure at Loch Ness, Rupert the Red Squirrel and, most recently, Luno the Loch Ness Alpaca — grew out of a love of Dr Seuss and reading to my kids. My adult collections, My Toolbox Doesn’t Like Me and Measured Approach, sit alongside odd little poems and performance pieces. I enjoy the contrast: sometimes playful nonsense, sometimes poems born of lived experience, and the occasional story inspired by Celtic myth.

Performance has become a big part of my life outside the B&B. I MC the Bikeshed Open Mic in Inverness, perform in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Birmingham, and I’ve been lucky enough to read at festivals from Belladrum to the Fringe. I’m not naturally drawn to the spotlight, but I believe in the work that happens when people gather — the laughter, the shared silences and the small conversations after a reading that make the whole thing worthwhile.

When I’m not writing or on stage, I run a cosy B&B here in Inverness, teach the odd salsa class, and try to cycle to as many local viewpoints as my electric bike will allow. I’ve ridden more than 15,000 km on that bike — including a trip from Inverness to Edinburgh — and I plan longer rides because I like the slow, steady way landscapes rearrange the mind. I’m drawn to history, especially ancient history, and I often spend time litter-picking locally.

Small, practical things matter to me — supporting Mikeysline through book sales is one example. I am driven by curiosity and by language. I write because I notice the world and keep thinking, ‘There’s a poem in that somewhere.’ If you’d like a reading, a school visit or a fundraiser, drop me a message, and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.

More than anything, I want to make room: for laughter, for that strange little line that won’t leave you, and for a bit of company along the way.