Rona Munro – the award-winning writer for stage, radio and screen – has received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Stirling in recognition of her outstanding contribution to Scottish literature and drama. 

Rona – who joined 376 graduates today at a ceremony on the University of Stirling campus – has enjoyed a 40-year career writing extensively for stage, radio, television and film, to enormous critical acclaim and with multiple award wins. 

Born in Aberdeen, Rona wrote and acted for the stage during her teenage years. Her first play was staged at Edinburgh’s Traverse Theatre just a year after she graduated from the University of Edinburgh. She went on to write for the stage and radio.  

Honorary graduate Rona Munro pictured alongside University of Stirling Chancellor Lord McConnell.

Amongst Rona’s most notable work are The James Plays, five plays covering the reigns of the Stewart kings and queens of Scotland. Her theatre awards include the John Whiting Award for Iron; the Peggy Ramsay Memorial Award for The Maiden Stone; and the Evening Standard Award, Critics’ Circle Award and Susan Smith Blackburn Award for Bold Girls.  

Rona’s film and television work includes the Ken Loach film Ladybird, Ladybird and Oranges and Sunshine, directed by Jim Loach. She was the first writer to contribute to the iconic Doctor Who television series in both its twentieth- and twenty-first-century incarnations. With actress Fiona Knowles, she is also one half of the MsFits, Scotland’s longest running small scale touring theatre company presenting feminist comedy drama.