Len Pennie

Len Pennie is a Scottish poet and Scots language and mental-health advocate. She became known on social media in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic in Scotland for her "Scots word of the day" and poem (Scots: poyum) videos.

Early life and education
Pennie grew up in Airdrie in a household speaking Scots with her parents, grandparents and siblings. Her mother and father are teachers. She credits her grandparents and mother for teaching her Scots, and inspiring a love of languages. She also speaks Spanish and French.

Pennie has a Master of Arts in Spanish Language and Literature from the University of St Andrews.

Career and writing
Pennie has worked as a chef.

Poetry
As a child, Pennie competed in classroom Robert Burns poetry recital competitions.

When she was furloughed from her work in a restaurant during the first COVID-19 lockdown in Scotland, she began posting a video with a Scots word each day on Twitter to show the pronunciation and meaning of the word and how to use it in context.

Her poems include I'm no havin children, contrasting the English "children" with the Scots "weans", which went viral in October 2020. Following the online popularity of her posts, she says she received online abuse, including misogyny and disagreement as to the status of Scots as a language, and critics including George Galloway suggested Pennie has a "faux identity" and is a supporter of Scottish nationalism; however, Pennie also received support from actor Michael Sheen, comedian and nationalist campaigner Janey Godley, author Neil Gaiman, writer Billy Kay, food writer Nigella Lawson, TV presenter Greg Jenner and independence supporter and playwright David Greig. Godley said: "People keep sending me videos of a young lassie (Miss Punny Pennie) who is explaining what Scots words mean. Beautiful poetry is coming out of her mouth and her language is just spectacular."

Pennie was one of five Scots commissioned to write a poem for a Christmas campaign by Lidl about the Daft Days. A recitation of Robert Burns' Rantin’ Rovin’ Robin was shared by the Scottish Poetry Library, and she performed to over 1,200 people for the University of St Andrews' online Global Burns Night and at a National Trust for Scotland's Big Burns Night in January 2021. In February 2021, Pennie was commissioned by a campaign group Witches of Scotland to write and perform a poem for their online video In Memorial, to honour those, mainly women, who were persecuted under the Witchcraft Acts. In November 2020, the Saint Andrew's Society of Los Angeles invited her to write a Scottish diaspora poem which resulted in "Scots Nothin Tae Dae Wae That", and in March 2021 they named her their society's Poet Laureate.

In March 2023, Canongate Books announced publication of a short collection of her poetry, Poyums.

Other writing
Pennie was a judge for a BBC Radio Scotland youth writers competition on climate change. She wrote an article for TES about using Scots in the classroom.

In September 2022, Pennie became a columnist for The Herald.

Personal life
In March 2024, Pennie revealed she was in an abusive relationship with Gregor Monson between 2017 and 2020. He began harassing Pennie after she left him. He was charged, with a trial set for April 2022, but it was adjourned. In 2024, Monson pled guilty to domestic violence and was sentenced to a two year behavioural programme for domestic abusers. Pennie was granted a 3 year non-harassment order.