Photo ©Donal McLaughlin

Spring 2007: Maggie Graham contacted various writers with a request to help set up a Centre.

Spring 2007: Maggie and David Kinloch became aware that Robyn Marsack had had informal discussions with the SAC about a "Writers' House" as early as 2005.

Early Summer 2007: David Kinloch, Maggie Graham and Robyn Marsack had a meeting with Charles Bell and Simon Biggam at Culture and Sport, Glasgow to discuss the possibility of reviving this idea and setting up a Centre in Glasgow. The group was advised to contact Tricia Benzie who was acting as a consultant to the Paragon Ensemble with a view to forming a partnership (also possibly to include the Jazz Festival) in a bid to the Lottery for funding to establish a shared Centre somewhere in the Merchant City. Quite a number of meetings between representatives of these groups followed including some with a firm of architects who were doing pro bono work on the design of such a centre for Paragon. A meeting with David Cooke of WASPS was arranged and it seemed likely at this stage that space in the Briggait could be obtained fairly rapidly. These meetings lasted into the Autumn of 2007.

Autumn 2007: The Scottish Poetry Library organised a nationwide survey of writers with a view to establishing whether there was strong enough interest in a Centre to continue pursuing the project. The results of this survey were published on the SPL site on 17th November, 2007 and may still be consulted there.

Winter 2007/08: After the results of the survey the group expanded to include a few more interested writers including, Liz Lochhead, A.B. Jackson, Gerrie Fellows, Gerry Loose and Donal McLaughlin. After consultation with Culture and Sport, Glasgow, it was decided not to expand the group further at this stage but to set up as a limited company so that a membership could elect a properly constituted Board. We also sought advice from the Glasgow Council for the Voluntary Sector (GCVS) who advised us to seek Company status first before attempting to be come a Charity. It was further decided that attempting a bid to the Lottery at this stage, before we had formally constituted, was unwise and tantamount to putting the cart before the horse.

Spring 2008: Our first attempt to set up as a Company was knocked back because of our decision to use the word 'Scottish' in our name. This decision was the subject of some debate but we finally decided that we wanted to be national and international in aspiration. GCVS advised us that no special permission had to be sought for this but this turned out to be incorrect. In order to use this word in a Company name we needed to obtain backing from a Government Department or other official body.

Summer, 2008: We received letters of backing from Richard Holloway, Acting Chair of the Scottish Arts Council/Scottish Screen and from Charles Bell at Culture and Sport, Glasgow. These endorsements were accepted by Companies House.

October 2008: Incorporation of the Scottish Writers Centre. Our next decision was how best to expand the group and raise the project's profile. We discussed various ways of getting together enough interested writers from various parts of the country and eventually decided on an initial meeting to be held at Aye Write in Spring 2009.

January 2009: Grant of £1500 received from Culture and Sport towards the setting up of a series of meetings / talks aimed at raising the profile of the project and moving it forward.

March 2009: Aye Write Meeting.

1st June 2009: Our first event: WORDS with A.L. Kennedy at the CCA in Glasgow.

20th August 2009: Edinburgh launch of the Scottish Writers' Centre with a reading by Anita Govan and Beatrice Colin at Word Power Books.

Autumn 2009: The Scottish Writers' Centre was granted charity status.