Media release: Moat Brae National Centre for Children’s Writing to host writer’s fellowship

MOAT Brae National Centre for Children’s Writing will host the 2020 Dr Gavin Wallace Fellowship.

Set up to support Scotland-based mid-career and established writers to develop creative work during a year-long residency within a variety of cultural, education, health and other environments, the fellowship has already hosted  partnerships between Jenni Fagan at Edinburgh’s Summerhall, Morna Young at Aberdeen City Council’s Creative Learning resource, Kirsty Logan at the Association for Scottish Literary Studies and Martin O’Connor at the Playwright’s Studio Scotland in partnership with the Royal Lyceum Theatre.

Dr Simon Davidson, centre director, Moat Brae, said: “Being chosen as the host for next year’s Gavin Wallace Fellowship is a great privilege for Moat Brae and it has given us a wonderful opportunity to gain new insights into the methods and sources of inspiration that go into creating work for younger readers.

“Our theme next year is Imaginary Worlds and the successful author who becomes our writer-in-residence through the fellowship will have arguably the most inspirational garden in children’s literature to draw upon as source material.

“I am very much looking forward to welcoming the first ever writer-in-residence to the National Centre for Children’s Literature & Storytelling and I’m sure they will find their time here both inspiring and illuminating.”

Creative Scotland’s Harriet MacMillan said: “Our hope for this year’s fellowship was to find a host who could offer an interesting opportunity for a writer for children and young people, and Moat Brae, with its connections to J.M. Barrie and Peter Pan, not to mention its wonderful children’s literature collections, will provide the ideal context for a year of writer development. We look forward to supporting Moat Brae as they recruit and appoint the 2020 fellow and we are excited about the work that may emerge from this partnership.”

Applications for writers to participate in the fellowship will open in the new year.

The selected Fellow will receive £20,000 and Moat Brae will receive £5,000 to enable the hosting of the fellowship.

Notes for editors:

The Dr Gavin Wallace Fellowship was established in 2014 in memory of Dr Gavin Wallace who dedicated his entire professional life to supporting Scottish literature. Following the sad loss of Dr Wallace, in February 2013, Creative Scotland established an annual fellowship in his name to honour his memory and commemorate and continue his good work. The fund is supported by The National Lottery through Creative Scotland.

Creative Scotland is the public body that supports the arts, screen and creative industries across all parts of Scotland on behalf of everyone who lives, works or visits here. It enables people and organisations to work in and experience the arts, screen and creative industries in Scotland by helping others to develop great ideas and bring them to life. It distributes funding provided by the Scottish Government and the National Lottery. For further information about Creative Scotland, please visit www.creativescotland.com, and follow @creativescots | www.facebook.com/CreativeScotland.

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Contact: Claire Thomson
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