Agnes Owens Archive

OPENS TODAY: Alasdair Gray: Works from The Morag McAlpine Bequest at @KelvingroveArt feat. book cover art works for @AOwensArchive In an interview Morag said: "I think that we probably had quite lonely times before we met. And we now know the value of being together.’

Timeline post 24: 1975 - In this year Alasdair meets Agnes Owens @AOwensArchive through Liz Lochhead who was teaching at a local writers group in Alexandria which Agnes attended. Alasdair would champion her throughout her life & they would send each other transcripts to edit.

Thanks to everyone who attended our @sgsah Summer School session today on ‘Reflecting Creative Practice Through Archiving’. Our Custodian @GraySorcha enjoyed sharing her journey to growing AGA alongside researcher @laurzzs discussing @AOwensArchive

Huge thanks to our brilliant volunteer Evie Glen who has written on ‘Glasgow’s Community Archives’ for GUM mag which highlights AGA and @AOwensArchive feat. interviews with our Custodian @GraySorcha and our @sgsah CDA researcher @laurzzs Read in full via link in bio ⬆️

Happy birthday James Kelman! Born on 9th of June 1946, Kelman is a Scottish novelist, short story writer & playwright. In his early twenties he began writing stories that were true to his own life & social-cultural experience. Author portraits for Lean Tales with @AOwensArchive

Our @AOwensArchive @sgsah funded CDA student, @laurzzs is presenting today at the Oral History Society conference, ‘Whose Voices?’, on outcomes of interviews with one of Owens’s sons, @gentlemanwestJC and how these interviews have shaped her ongoing doctoral research.

Happy birthday to the brilliant Agnes Owens fae the Vale ❤️

Happy birthday Agnes ❤️ we are deeply honoured to be working with Owens family to bring this much overlooked working class writer’s life & work to wider attention, via The Agnes Owens Archive (housed within @AGrayArchive) opening in time for her centenary in 2026❤️

Born on the 24th of May 1926, Agnes Owens would have turned 99 today. Agnes wrote darkly comic stories of everyday working-class life. She was offered advice by Alasdair which she reciprocated, evidence of which is in both AGA & @AOwensArchive opening later this year.

A lovely tour today including Arts Development Office at West Dunbartonshire Council Maeve Dixon, who was responsible for programming our Agnes talk for International Women’s Day earlier this year, and Shirley Howlitt who invited Agnes to deliver literacy sessions at Maryhill.

Next in our Student Stories series is Arran Mackenzie Rey, with us as part of his Masters in Creative Writing at Strathclyde University working on @AOwensArchive to explore gothic links in Agnes’s work, will be sharing his research soon!

My brilliant Australian Family x

Fantastic to have Lewis and his lovely family in the archive this morning! Hugely grateful for his contribution to the oral history interviews about Agnes Owens's life and legacy.

Really special to welcome Lewis, Agnes’s grandson, to the archive today with partner Kat and Agnes’s great granddaughter, Freya. Lewis was really generous in allowing our @sgsah researcher, @laurzzs, to interview and map his memories of Agnes as a much loved grandmother ❤️

Fantastic read @LRB by @DaniGaravelli1 on the wonder that is @AGrayArchive. It captures so well the work which has been carried out to promote Alasdair Gray's legacy – led by the estimable Sorcha Dallas. Sorcha & team now nurturing the legacy of the wonderful @AOwensArchive.

Our Custodian @GraySorcha was delighted to join students yesterday on @GLAcuratorial to discuss her curatorial journey and how she’s been embedding her approach based on radical empathy and care at The Alasdair Gray Archive and @AOwensArchive

Very much enjoy being involved and responding to @laurzzs discussion points👍

Another lovely afternoon recording John's memories of his mum, Agnes Owens. Huge thank you, John, for providing such rich and valuable insights!

Fantastic to have Agnes’s son John Crosbie back in the archive yesterday! @gentlemanwestJC came in for his second oral history interview with our @sgsah CDA student, @laurzzs . Laura and John are undertaking a series of interviews to record his memories of his mum.

Our Custodian @GraySorcha was honoured to meet so many of Agnes Owens friends & family today whilst discussing her work & plans for sharing via the @AOwensArchive Was excellent to meet her son Bill and grandchildren who shared some hilarious anecdotes ❤️