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
Development 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 poet, the Development Director for Open Book and the Deputy Chair of StAnza, Scotland’s international poetry festival. Her poems have won prizes, been widely published in the UK and USA, and performed on BBC Radio 4. Marjorie’s a keen runner and wild swimmer, and currently on her bedside table are Summerwater by Sarah Moss, Antlers of Water (ed. Kathleen Jamie) and Claudia Rankine’s Just Us.
Claire Urquhart
Director and Founder
Claire studied law in Edinburgh. After a brief spell working in London she settled back in Edinburgh where she lives with her husband, three kids and resolutely no pets. Trying to dispel the theory that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, Claire is attempting to learn the flute and enjoys (occasionally) dusting off her hockey stick for a game. Claire is also a Trustee of the Edinburgh International Book Festival. Currently on her bedside table are The Art of the Glimpse, edited by Sinead Gleeson (which may take some time), and Scabby Queen by Kirstin Innes.
Jess Orr
Operations Manager
Jess is Operations Manager at Open Book, supporting the daily running of all our groups as well as organising annual visits for group members to literary events and festivals across Scotland. She also runs three groups herself at the Grassmarket Community Project, WHALE Arts and in Perth. Outside of Open Book, Jess is Co-Producer of Paisley Book Festival.
Miriam Huxley
Admin support/volunteer co-ordinator
Miriam grew up in British Columbia and moved to Edinburgh in 2013 to study a Master’s in Creative Writing. In addition to her Admin/Volunteer Coordinator role at the Open Book office, she’s working on a PhD in Creative Writing at the University of Edinburgh. When she isn’t reading and writing, her other research concerns finding the best vegan cake in the city and drinking a lot of oat milk lattes.
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