Professor John Gillies was a general practitioner in rural Scotland. He has been a GP trainer and undergraduate tutor and is currently an Honorary Professor in General Practice at Edinburgh University, senior advisor to the Global Health Academy, and Deputy Director of the Scottish School of Primary Care, a research collaboration. He helped found the Scottish Medical Humanities network and believes that literature and poetry augment our understanding of medicine and illness and indeed the world at large. Samuel Tongue is Project Co-ordinator at the Scottish Poetry Library. His first pamphlet is Hauling-Out (Eyewear, 2016) and his second, stitch, is forthcoming with Tapsalteerie. He has published poems in numerous anthologies and magazines. He is currently co-editor of New Writing Scotland and poetry editor at the Glasgow Review of Books. Lesley Morrison is a retired GP, now writing  and contributing to radio, with a longstanding belief that the humanities can and should be used to cast light on  medical education and practice. She works with medical students at the University of Edinburgh and uses this book as a tool for teaching.