The Trust seeks to engage with projects that will promote and encourage the study, appreciation and knowledge of Scottish poetry and literature. Notwithstanding the challenges and restrictions resulting from the Covid pandemic the Trust has been able to support a number of projects.
In relation to poetry, the Trust was pleased to be associated with a poetry recital at St James’s Church, Leith Edinburgh, whilst at a wider level it has sponsored the first prize in a nationwide poetry competition organised by the Neil Gunn Trust.
Creative writing will always be a focus for the Trustees and is the subject of a conference being promoted by the Scottish Book Trust for young people aged between 13 and 19 across Scotland. The Trust was pleased to be able to make a contribution towards this event.
Another creative writing project supported by the Trust has been a mini festival celebrating and supporting new writing and new writers in theatre organised by the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh.
The Craigmillar Literacy Trust carries out important work through its ‘Creating and Learning Together’ schools and families’ project in the Craigmillar area of Edinburgh. The Trust has supported this project for a number of years and has continued to do so.
Recently the Trustees re-engaged with the School of Arts at Edinburgh Napier University and has entered into an agreement to provide funds which will enable one of their PhD students to carry out research into a specific aspect of Scottish literature.
The range of donations that the Trust has made over the years has been extraordinarily diverse and looking ahead, whilst the Trust is not a large endowment, we welcome applications from organisations across Scotland as we recover from the pandemic.