This year's annual appeal spotlighted the intriguing collections of Scotland's foremost modern writers.
The archives of some of Scotland's best-known writers are housed here at the National Library of Scotland. We've recently acquired the fascinating papers of literature greats Alasdair Gray, James Kelman and George Mackay Brown to sit alongside the papers of Muriel Spark, Agnes Owens and William McIlvanney in the national collections.
Manuscripts curator Colin McIlroy examining the contents of a writers' archive. Photo by Alison Gibson.
These archives consist of pocketbooks, sketches, publisher revisions, corrected proofs and unpublished material. They offer unfiltered insight into these writers’ creative processes and everyday life.
Our 2023 Annual Appeal was launched to catalogue and curate these archives, so that fans, future writers and researchers could access and explore them.
The Library's community of donors and readers supported the appeal generously, and we raised the funds needed to organise and list these fascinating archives.
Manuscripts Curator Colin McIlroy explains: "Each of these wonderful collections came with their own idiosyncrasies, and presented considerable challenges to assess, arrange, and describe. But now, thanks to the generosity of our supporters, the work of Scotland's most loved contemporary voices is available for all to access."
Alasdair Gray, George Mackay Brown, and Tom Leonard's archives are now visible on our catalogue and are available to explore up-close in our reading rooms.
Thank you to those who helped make this possible.