The Agnes Owens 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...

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. 🌼

2026 is Agnes Owens’ centenary year, & Polygon has published 7 new editions of her novels & short stories, introduced by some of Scotland’s finest contemporary writers, in collaboration with the @aowensarchive.bsky.social 💙📚 #Booksky birlinn.co.uk/2026/01/08/p...

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...

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!

💛 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

✨ A brilliant evening on Thursday celebrating Agnes Owens and her legacy at our first Byres Rd Book Festival event. Huge thanks to everyone who joined us at Òran Mór to celebrate her words, work and lasting contribution to Scottish literature.

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.

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.

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 💚

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.

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!

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.

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

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

Acknowledging Agnes Owens: a celebration of her writing & legacy 24 Sep, Glasgow – free Launch event for the Byres Road Book Festival, in collaboration with the @aowensarchive.bsky.social – with Dani Garavelli, Kirstin Innes, William Letford, & Chitra Ramaswamy www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/acknowledg...

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 💪🏽

Did you know The Alasdair Gray Archive cares for 8,500+ items across two unique collections- the Alasdair Gray Estate Collection & our AGA Collection, we'll be sharing highlights that continue to inspire our innovative model for research, commissioning and learning.

Thanks to @creativescots.bsky.social Open Fund for Organisations, @heatherparry.bsky.social & Kirstin Innes ave been exploring AGA & @aowensarchive.bsky.social through writing, workshops and new creative work. Here Heather shares the impact this residency has had on her practice.

Thanks to @creativescots.bsky.social Open Fund for Organisations, Heather Parry & @kirstininnes.bsky.social have been exploring AGA & @aowensarchive.bsky.social through writing, workshops and new creative work. Here Kirstin shares the impact on her practice. Photo: Alan Dimmick.

New blog by our @sgsah.bsky.social CDA researcher Laura MacDonald - womenshistoryscotland.org/2026/07/04/c...

Week 6 of our Writing in the Margins group explored plot and structure, discussing Gray's The Star and @aowensarchive.bsky.social’s McIntyre (Lean Tales). Great discussion throughout—we're looking forward to next week! 🙏 to Saskia McCracken for facilitating!

We were delighted to welcome Margaret Higgins for an oral history interview with our SGSAH-funded CDA student, @laurzzs.bsky.social yesterday. Margaret shared memories of Agnes Owens, the Pen & Ink group, Jen’s Party, and Agnes’ lasting legacy. Thank you, Margaret!

📢 New on the blog! PhD researcher @laurzzs.bsky.social celebrates the centenary of the birth of Scottish author, Agnes Owens. Find out more about Agnes, her writing and how @aowensarchive.bsky.social is bringing her writing to wider audiences 📚 womenshistoryscotland.org/2026/07/04/c...

Welcome to Day 1 of our AGA x DJCAD Online Exhibition! 🎉 Celebrating the talented 4th Year BDes (Hons) Illustration students, whose inspiring archive-based work explores the creative legacies of Alasdair Gray & Agnes Owens thealasdairgrayarchive.org/news/aga-x-d...

Week 5 of Writing in the Margins explored how kitchens, workplaces and family life reveal the wider world. Huge thanks to guest writer @kirstininnes.bsky.social and everyone who shared thoughtful work proving big stories often begin at the kitchen table @aowensarchive.bsky.social

Over the past two months, we've loved welcoming Eva Casey as our Graphic Design & Content Creation Intern through @glasgow.ac.uk Creative Connections. Thanks for your creativity, hard work and enthusiasm, Eva—we wish you every success!

✨ Delighted to welcome members of the Scottish Records Association today! We shared highlights from The Alasdair Gray Archive and @aowensarchive.bsky.social, explored our collections, and celebrated the importance of preserving Scotland’s stories. 📚

✨ #VolunteerWeek shoutout to Nicolle, Shona & Evie! Their expertise and dedication to cataloguing, digitisation, research and writing help make the AGA & @aowensarchive.bsky.social collections more accessible. Thank you!

A lovely visit yesterday from the team at @scottishbooktrust.bsky.social Trust, who toured both AGA & @aowensarchive.bsky.social and heard from @kirstininnes.bsky.social about her developing work as part of our Creative Scotland–funded Writers Residency. Thanks to all for visiting!

This week we celebrate the creative friendship of Agnes Owens and Alasdair Gray. People Like That (1996) pairs Owens’ sharp, unsentimental stories with Gray’s cover art, inspired by commuters at Glasgow Central Station @aowensarchive.bsky.social

This week we celebrate the creative friendship of Agnes Owens and Alasdair Gray. Lean Tales (1985), with James Kelman, remains a powerful portrait of Scottish life and literary collaboration. @aowensarchive.bsky.social