Our second Writer’s Room programme will include Gill White and Brooke Collins

Keira Brown
Communications
Edinburgh City of Literature Trust

27 February 2025

Writers at all steps of their career applied for the Writer's Room programme, with over 120 responses.

Edinburgh UNESCO City of Literature and the Society of Authors in Scotland have partnered yet again on the residency programme for writers in Edinburgh – Writer’s Room – which offers a writing space with inspiring views of Edinburgh’s Old Town and a £1,000 fee for a two-month programme. This now also comes with free membership to the Society of Authors for one year.

Whether through high-profile campaigns or community-based projects, the Edinburgh UNESCO City of Literature’s mission is to make Edinburgh a warm and welcoming city, which values literature and its writers, where everyone can be involved in the joy of reading and writing. After the success and obvious requirement for this type of programme in 2024, there was a call out for the Writer’s Room in 2025. Applications closed for this programme in mid-February 2025.

Recent research led by Literature Alliance Scotland informs 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. The Writer’s Room is a new paid income programme for writers to help build their career and their portfolio, opening other opportunities. And from the response to this call out, it’s clear that these paid writing opportunities are essential for writers, with over 120 applications from creatives with a variety of disciplines whether poetic, academic, non-fiction or fiction, and from every step of a writer’s career.

With a lottery selection for the Writer’s Room programme, writers Brooke Collins and Gill White have been selected, and who feel privileged to be selected for the second iteration.

Gill White

Gill White is a screenwriter/director and a multidisciplinary artist working in art, design, and film. For Wigtown Book Festival she presented participatory art project Pop-Up Story - for people to write, draw, make and do and have fun through collective storytelling. Current collaborations include 'A Feather in Time', a co-created Covid memorial film for East Lothian celebrating the restorative act of going for a walk in nature. Her public art actively encourages all ages to spend time in nature, project highlights include - 'Art Park Bothy for Greenspace North Lanarkshire Country Parks', 'Art Adventures in Nature with Luminate', Scotland’s creative ageing organisation and 'Miniature Moments in a Big City' that celebrates the city of Edinburgh. Committed to supporting local talent she is an engagement artist for Edinburgh Festival Theatre Trust. Her award-winning screenplay 'I was a Honky Lover' was premiered at the Edinburgh Film Festival.

'I will be spending the next two months developing an outline for a series of short stories or chapters exploring the narrative of a daughter expressing her grief by thoughtfully distributing each book - choosing the ideal book to gift her wide circle of friends, as an act of mentorship and love. I am delighted to be given the opportunity to spend the time nestled in the warmth and support of the Writer’s Room programme.'

'I’m truly honoured to be chosen for the Writer’s Room programme. Edinburgh inspires me everyday, proving itself time and time again as a city of literature. It’s my love for this city, the art it evokes, and Edinburgh’s abundant passion for literature that makes an opportunity to work with the Edinburgh UNESCO City of Literature Trust such an immense privilege.'

Brooke Collins

Brooke Collins is a writer and academic from Sarnia, Canada, living in Edinburgh, Scotland. She holds a bachelor of Arts from the University of Toronto and a Masters of Intermediality from the University of Edinburgh. Her writing has appeared in 'Acta Victoriana', 'Echolocation', 'The Trinity Review', 'Sugarmoon', 'The UC Review', as well as her own zines 'AYe(h)' and 'Three Word Poems' which are available in local independent bookshops.

As a charity, we are extremely grateful to the Society of Authors as well as the Amazon Literary Partnership for the funding and space to open the doors to these opportunities for Edinburgh writers, giving them time and place to refine their writing and hone their craft, right in the heart of Edinburgh’s Old Town. And indeed thankful to the Society of Authors for their kind offer of the free membership and the work they put in to help us refine this offer. The Writer's Room is a place for writers to experiment and create work here in the world’s first UNESCO City of Literature, by offering this much-needed opportunity for writers in the Edinburgh-area. We look forward to working with Brooke and Gill on the programme.

If you are a writer and would like to find out more about the Writer's Room programme then check out our webpage.