WELCOME TO OPEN BOOK

What We Do

We organise and run over 1200 shared reading and creative writing sessions each year, for a diverse range of community and public participants across Scotland.  During our relaxed and informal shared reading sessions, part of a book and poem are read aloud, with an Open Book Lead Reader on hand to help guide the discussion. We also run regular creative writing sessions, using the material the group is reading as inspiration to create new writing.

Every year, we arrange and fund visits by our groups to book festivals and other literary events across Scotland, including Edinburgh International Book Festival, Wigtown Book Festival, Paisley Book Festival, Granite Noir, StAnza, Ullapool Book Festival, and St Magnus Festival. Open Book also regularly offers additional author visits and opportunities to participate in special projects and performances. 

Listen to Co-Founder Marjorie talk with Richard Holloway about what we do at Open Book.

The Team

Marjorie Lotfi

Director and Founder

Marjorie was born in New Orleans, spent her childhood in Tehran, and lived in New York before moving to the UK in 1999. A former corporate lawyer in New York and London, Marjorie is now a freelance writer and mentor, and a Director for Open Book. Her first collection of poetry,The Wrong Person to Ask (Bloodaxe Books) won the Forward Prize for Best First Collection and was shortlisted for the Saltire Prize for Best Collection in 2024, and a poem from it has appeared on London’s Poems on the Underground. Marjorie’s a keen gardener and wild swimmer, and John Burnside’s Ruin, Blossom is currently on her bedside table.

Claire Urquhart

Director and Founder

Claire studied law in Edinburgh and worked in the contentious intellectual property field.. After a brief spell working in London she settled back in Edinburgh where she lives with her husband, three kids and resolutely no pets. In her spare time she likes to tootle on her flute, put pen to paper and write poems and short stories and go for a dip (the colder the water the better.)  Claire is a  former Trustee of the Edinburgh International Book Festival and enthusiastic chair of book-related events. Currently on her bedside table Gwyneth Lewis’s new collection First Rain In Paradise and Barcelona by Mary Costello. 

Jess Orr

Operations Manager

Jess is Operations Manager at Open Book, coordinating the daily running of all our groups and our training programme, as well as organising annual visits for groups to literary events across Scotland. She also runs two groups, at the Grassmarket Community Project and LGBT Health and Wellbeing in Leith. Outside of Open Book, Jess is a freelance Project Manager and Programmer, as well as an English tutor. 

Amy Life

Office Administrator

Amy is the Open Book Office Administrator. She has just finished her degree in French and Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh where she campaigned against gender-based violence and wrote for The Rattlecap Magazine. Amy enjoys long country walks, getting stuck into a good book, and nights at the Jazz Bar. She also hopes to have her own herb garden one day. 

Rachel Gray

Reach Officer

Rachel is Reach Officer at OpenBook. She also works as a coordinator for Scottish Book Trust. She is a keen reader and can be found sharing her thoughts and feelings on books on her social media and for The Scotsman newspaper. When not reading she loves watching sport and crocheting everyone she knows a lopsided gift.

Cameron Ward

Prison Programme Co-ordinator

Cameron is the Open Book Prison Programme Co-ordinator.  She works in arts and adult education, supporting learners with high support needs. She is also a musician and is involved in choirs and theatre groups. She is currently trying to finish The Wheel of Time Series – five more books to go! 

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