The Alasdair Gray Archive

📚 Explore Agnes Owens’ life, work and archives with researchers and curators at NLS Kelvin Hall, Glasgow. 📅 4 Nov, 6–7pm. 🎟️ Booking essential via link 👉🏽 www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/agnes-owen...

Thank you to everyone who joined us at Woodside Library today with @chitgrrl.bsky.social in conversation with @sorchadallas.bsky.social to discuss Rich Things — exploring archives, Glasgow’s colonial histories, and whose stories are preserved, remembered or left untold.

Read my new Practical Guide for Independent Artists Archives created for SAAN drawing on my work with @agrayarchive.bsky.social & @aowensarchive.bsky.social & recent Creative Scotland supported research into artists archives, 15 points to help support others in the sector - tr.ee/1kPBSfWXb5

FREE WORKSHOPS! Explore Glasgow’s @aowensarchive.bsky.social & AGA literary archives through writing, collage, poetry & storytelling at Woodside Library. Nov 2026–Feb 2027. No experience needed! Limited places. Email info@thealasdairgrayarchive.org

🎥 Recording now available! Introducing my new Practical Guide for Independent Artist Archives as part of the Scottish Artists Archives Network Autumn Programme 2026. Find the recording and guide on the SAAN website.

🌼 Celebrate Agnes Owens’ centenary with daffodil planting! Join WDC Arts & Heritage team on Saturday 24 October, 11am–12pm, at Alexandria Library Garden. Everyone welcome! Tea, coffee and bulbs provided. 🌼

Rich Things with Chitra Ramaswamy 23 Oct, Glasgow. Free Mark #BlackHistoryMonth with an event exploring RICH THINGS, @chitgrrl.bsky.social’s new work for the @agrayarchive.bsky.social, & looking at Alasdair Gray’s anti-colonial thinking, legacy & enduring impact www.eventbrite.com/e/rich-thing...

Recording available now! ✨ Celebrate Agnes Owens’ writing and legacy with highlights from our sellout Byres Road Book Festival launch at Òran Mór. Watch the full event on YouTube- www.youtube.com/watch?v=erf3...

Custodian @sorchadallas.bsky.social of AOA & @agrayarchive.bsky.social speaks at @scotsarchives.bsky.social conference 03.11.26 in Edinburgh exploring how archives can bring overlooked voices back into cultural conversations, link below!

Join @blackhistorymonth.org.uk for a conversation with @chitgrrl.bsky.social & @sorchadallas.bsky.social exploring Rich Things, Alasdair Gray’s Archive, north Glasgow stories, anti-colonial thinking & legacy. 23 Oct, 2–3pm. www.eventbrite.com/e/rich-thing...

After six and a half years at The Whisky Bond, the Alasdair Gray Archive is moving to a new home. We’ll announce our new location and access arrangements soon. Thank you to our friends at TWB—we’ll miss you!

We welcomed Elliot Douglas to the archive last week, visiting from Germany where he is researching Gray’s work for his current PhD.

A Harpy in Cowcaddens by Fir Sow — a new zine reimagining Alasdair Gray’s work, our archive and the Cowcaddens landscape through collage, illustration and found text. ✨ Limited edition — direct from our online shop!

💛 Cheerio for now to the wonderful @kirstininnes.bsky.social , whose 8–9 month residency with @agrayarchive.bsky.social & @aowensarchive.bsky.social have been inspiring. Thank you for your warmth, creativity, style and care💛

What a brilliant Sunday at Byres Road Book Festival celebrating PEOPLE LIKE THIS 📖✨ A new booklet bringing together local writers inspired by Agnes Owens, Alasdair Gray and the theme of ‘neglected voices’. Thanks to all participants, tutors and supporters ❤️ @agrayarchive.bsky.social

Lovely to welcome the new cohort from the Masters in Curatorial Practice from The University of Glasgow/Glasgow School of Art this morning facilitated by Laura Haynes - thanks for visiting!

Next week ✨ @sorchadallas.bsky.social & Chitra Ramaswamy explore Alasdair Gray & @aowensarchive.bsky.social at @wigtownbooktown.bsky.social ✨ 📅 Fri 2 Oct | 4:30pm 📍 Main Hall, County Buildings Literary friendship, archives & legacy.

We welcomed back journalist & researcher Chris Silver, our first @sgsah.bsky.social intern in 2021. An old friend of the Archive, Chris was here to hatch plans for collaboration in 2027. Watch this space 👀

People Like This brings together writing from two local groups, inspired by our 2026 Writers-in-Residence programme and the archives of Agnes Owens and @agrayarchive.bsky.social - available to buy from AGA’s online shop now!

Join me for the next free SAAN webinar on independent artist archives. 29 Sept, 1–2pm online. Discover her new Practical Guide for caring for artistic legacies outside institutions and her new Go See Share research to Flat Time House and The Charleston Trust.

Final Byres Road Book Festival event! New writing group and anthology launch! Join writers from Glasgow & Alexandria celebrating Agnes Owens with readings from People Like This.

📚 SOLD OUT! 🎉 Creative Writing Workshop with Kirstin Innes at Hillhead Library, 27 Sept, 15:00. Join the waitlist for returned tickets. Explore empathy, readers, writers & characters through Agnes Owens’ work.

✨ Celebrate Agnes Owens’ writing & legacy at Òran Mór, Glasgow! Join Dani Garavelli, Kirstin Innes, Chitra Ramaswamy & William Letford for readings, archive material & new work. 📅 24 Sept 🎟️ FREE, booking required.

We’re delighted to be working with Byres Road Book Festival to celebrate Agnes Owens’ centenary with a special series of events. 📚✨ Join us 24 & 27 Sept at Òran Mór and Hillhead Library. Free!

Celebrating @sorchadallas.bsky.social, Curator & Custodian of AGA & @aowensarchive.bsky.social 💙 For six years, her care, vision and dedication have shaped the Archive, preserving Gray’s legacy and inspiring future generations.

It’s National Fox Day! 🦊 Foxes feature throughout Alasdair’s work, from Christmas cards and drawings to murals at Palacerigg Country Park (1974) and Hillhead Subway Station (2012).

🍂 SAAN Autumn Programme | First Event 🎥 Recording now live! Charlotte Riordan explored valuations, the art market, artist legacies, archives and estates, with case studies of William Crosbie & Wilhelmina Barns-Graham - tr.ee/7zoxJMXPJh

Delighted to welcome Logan Sisley to the archive on Friday. Head of Collections at Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin, Logan shared fascinating insights into the Francis Bacon studio, British and Irish art, and the Hugh Lane collection.

Celebrating Abby’s 2 years with us & @aowensarchive.bsky.social ! 🎉 From digital content and design to events and programmes, her creativity and dedication make a huge impact. Thank you, Abby! ❤️

Wonderful to welcome @scottishgreens.org MSPs Iris Duane and Patrick Harvie to the archive today. We talked archives, creativity and community, and our work with researchers and creatives, including @aowensarchive.bsky.social 💚

Introducing Lauren Forde, our @sgsah.bsky.social CDA researcher. Lauren explores Alasdair Gray’s Glasgow through archives, oral histories and film, uncovering stories of a changing city. Her thesis and documentary film will be shared in 2027!

Delighted to welcome poet William Letford to AGA & @aowensarchive.bsky.social today! William wrote the new introduction to Agnes Owens’ People Like That and joins us for our launch aa part of The Byres Road Book Festival at Òran Mór on 24 Sept.

Meet our team! Introducing Laura MacDonald our @sgsah.bsky.social CDA researcher exploring the complete writings of Agnes Owens. Working with AGA, Laura helped support @aowensarchive.bsky.social & her research seeks to restore Owens’s place in Scotland’s literary heritage.

✨ NEW LIMITED EDITION ✨ Gone Out Again: Selections of Letters for a Cleaner and a Typist, compiled & illustrated by Georgia McEwen, celebrates Alasdair Gray’s wit, warmth and everyday correspondence. Now for sale via our online shop.

The final three Agnes Owens reissues are out now from Polygon @birlinn.bsky.social Featuring introductions by Jenni Fagan, William Letford & Chitra Ramaswamy. Available now via our online shop.

New publication! The Edinburgh Companion to Alasdair Gray and the Arts explores Gray’s art, writing and legacy, including a chapter on AGA written by our custodian @sorchadallas.bsky.social Available via the link in our bio, or book int to view our research copy!

Now available! Alan Bissett’s When Billy Met Alasdair imagines a fictional meeting between Billy Connolly & Alasdair Gray, exploring Scottish identity, art & culture. Published by Salamander Street, originally commissioned by AGA & GICF in 2025.

Highlights from The Alasdair Gray Archive: @aowensarchive.bsky.social - our first satellite archive, opened in 2026 to mark Owens’ centenary. Explore manuscripts, letters & personal items illuminating her life and work.

Yesterday Kevin Williams shared memories of Alasdair’s involvement in sci-fi conventions. We’re mapping these links—please get in touch if you have memories or archival material to share!

The delightful Glasgow-based writer, poet and spoken word artist, Michael Mullen, popped by to visit us yesterday. Michael writes in Scots and Standard English with his work exploring queerness, working-class life, identity, language and community.

Explore more from The Alasdair Gray Archive Collections: FURNITURE & FURNISHINGS. From his desk lamp to ergonomic stools, these objects reconnect us with Gray’s home, studio and daily working practice.

Further highlights from the Alasdair Gray Archive collection: ephemera, including his daily chessboard and childhood cigarette cards that inspired his distinctive style. Explore their stories in David Lothian’s A Walk Through AGA.

SAAN Autumn Programme | First Event- 15.09.26 at 1pm - Selling a Legacy: Artist’s Estates & the Market www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/lunchtime-...

🍂 Scottish Artists Archive Network Autumn Programme 2026 Three free online webinars exploring artist archives, estates and legacy. 📅 15 Sep — Charlotte Riordan 📅 29 Sep — @sorchadallas.bsky.social 📅 15 Oct — Judit Bodor & Caroline Brown 💻 Free | Online via Eventbrite

Sharing highlights from AGA’s own collection, built over 5 years through donations from Gray’s closest friends. Today: TOOLS & EQUIPMENT. Explore the objects behind his creative practice, including his old typewriter and easel, and how they have prompted new creative responses.

Continuing our highlights from our growing, The Alasdair Gray Archive Collection, looking at some of our BOOKS. We have received multiple translations of Poor Things and a treasured, inscribed copy of The Book of Prefaces with a portrait of Gray’s good friend Katy Gardiner.

Happy Birthday, Tom Leonard! 🎂 Born in 1944, today would have been his 82nd birthday. Poet, writer and champion of Glasgow’s voice, Tom is pictured with Alasdair, James Kelman, Liz Lochhead & Agnes Owens in Balloch, 2009. @aowensarchive.bsky.social

Exploring The Alasdair Gray Archive: a collaborative collection amplifying overlooked voices, from Kelly Crossan and Willy Maley to ‘The City’ exhibition by Holly Rennie Brown.

Delighted to join the Curatorial Ethics Network and to highlight my work with @agrayarchive.bsky.social & @aowensarchive.bsky.social in foregrounding the vital role of the curatorial within collections - focusing on care, access and diversity, making these collections generative resources 💪🏽

More highlights from our own growing collection 👀