Edinburgh City of Literature Open Mary Ratcliff Writer's Room Programme in Writers' Museum
Keira Brown
Communications Executive
Edinburgh City of Literature Trust
28 January 2025
Would you benefit from a paid desk residency in the heart of Edinburgh, the world’s first UNESCO City of Literature?
The Mary Ratcliff Writer’s Room is a space for women in the Writers’ Museum, on the first floor of a space dedicated to writers – in the heart of Edinburgh’s literary quarter.
This is a public-facing residency based at the Edinburgh Writers’ Museum, and as such we are looking for applicants who are willing to help us shape and mould the opportunity during its pilot phase.
We are partnering with the Society of Authors in Scotland, to help us reach across the writing community to authors who would benefit most, and particularly women, who in the past have fought to get their names mentioned as writers, and their works published.
What is the offer?
The space will be available within the opening hours of the Museum and will include socket point and public basic Wi-Fi. There will also be the option for support and advice on making connections in literary Scotland and globally through our networks.
Through the Writer’s Room project participants will receive £1,000 with free desk-space in the Writer’s Museum across two months. To the writer we offer flexibility, so that they can choose when to use the space and it fits around their life and other commitments. It must sit within the Writer’s Museum opening hours.
Alongside this we will offer support and insight from the Edinburgh City of Literature Trust’s staff, drawing on their ample experience in the sector.
And for those that are not already Society of Authors members, the programme will come with 1 year membership, free of charge.
What difference will this make?
Our charity created the UNESCO City of Literature designation, secured it for the city in 2004 and each year we work to maintain it. We have used it to grow an international network of 53 Cities of Literature in 39 countries, and through them we bring opportunities to writers to work internationally. Locally, we have created a wide range of projects to connect readers and writers to Edinburgh as an amazing literary place, and champion Edinburgh as the world’s first UNESCO City of Literature.
Recent research led by Literature Alliance Scotland tell us that writers’/literary freelancers’ average annual full-time income in Scotland in 2022 was £21,140 – just under the Living Wage with 66% making under £20k. Our Mary Ratcliff Writer’s Room creates a new paid income programme for women writers to help build their career and their portfolio, opening other opportunities. It is also a space for us to champion and support this cohort of amazing literary talent in our city.
We need help and feedback from those writers taking part in the Writer’s Room to assist us in evaluating it, and by applying you are agreeing to help us shape the project.
Summary
A paid desk residency to give two women authors the opportunity to experiment, create new work or develop work in progress.
• Space - a desk in the main gallery of Writers’ Museum in Lady Stairs Close, just off the Lawnmarket on the Royal Mile. This space is always open to the public and your interaction with curious visitors will be an everyday experience. Public basic Wi-Fi is available on site; however, as this is a museum space, please be aware that food and drink can only be consumed in the allocated staff welfare room.
• Time – a consecutive two-month period per writer, between March – July 2025, to use on a flexible basis, within Writers’ Museum opening hours Monday-Friday (e.g. one day a week for two months, one complete week each month, etc.).
• Money - £1,000 per writer to be paid in two instalments (and to cover all the writer’s costs as they choose to use it).
• Society of Authors membership - For those that are not already Society of Authors members, the programme will come with 1 year membership, free of charge.
How do I apply?
We are currently accepting applications for the Mary Ratcliff Writer’s Room. Applications are open until 5pm on Friday 21st February 2025. If you have any questions about the programme or your application, you can contact Keira on edinburgh@cityofliterature.com.
To apply for the Mary Ratcliff Writer’s Room, please fill in the questions in this short application form and complete the equal opportunity monitoring form. The information will be treated in the strictest confidence.
The successful candidates will be chosen by random selection by Edinburgh City of Literature Trust and will be announced in February 2025. We will let you know via email about the outcome of your application.
What are the criteria for applications?
Applicants must be over 18 years old and be women authors with an EH postcode.
What about access?
The desk residency is on the first floor of Writers’ Museum in Lady Stairs House, one of Edinburgh’s heritage buildings and up a small flight of stairs. The applicant must be able to navigate that space and those restrictions easily. An access guide is available on the Museums and Galleries Edinburgh website.
Where is the funding coming from for this project?
The offer is administered in all respects by Edinburgh City of Literature Trust, and in partnership with the Society of Authors in Scotland and the City of Edinburgh Council. We gratefully appreciate the financial support of Mary Brown Ratcliff's family. We will appoint two writers.
Mary Brown Ratcliff (née Jamieson) (1928 – 2023) was a resident of Edinburgh who derived great joy from Scottish culture, including Scotland’s literary culture, especially since she discovered that the home where she was bringing up her four children was Robert Louis Stevenson’s home from age 3 to 6. Brought up by her widowed mother along with her three siblings in a Council house in Polmont, she went to Falkirk High School, and did several degrees at Edinburgh University, in the Arts, Maths and Medicine, and became a GP. Her interests were wide, ranging over crafts, music-making, theatre, history, reading, astronomy, botany, and most importantly her family – her husband, four children, their partners and her seven grandchildren. Her children have gifted the Mary Ratcliff Writer’s Room as a legacy from her, in the hope and expectation that through this, another great Edinburgh writer will emerge.