Come visit us and @aowensarchive.bsky.social in March 2026!
➡️March 13th, 20th, and 27th at 11am
To secure a space please book here 👇🏽
Come visit us and @aowensarchive.bsky.social in March 2026!
➡️March 13th, 20th, and 27th at 11am
To secure a space please book here 👇🏽
What an evening at Gray Day 2026 — thank you for supporting our work. 💛
Marking 45 years of Lanark, we gathered at Òran Mór for bold new writing, animation and celebration. Here’s to new voices and the enduring energy of Gray’s vision.
🎨 School Competition – A Reimagined Glasgow
P7 pupils across the city shared bold, imaginative visions. We chose two winning pairs, celebrating teamwork! Each school gets £50 for art materials + a free Travelling Archive workshop. Well done all! 💛
A special message & photos from Alasdair’s little sister, Mora Rolley, today, with her permission we are sharing🤍✨
“I’m so grateful to have received the scarf, Alasdair would have loved it and probably worn it proudly… before leaving it somewhere! Thank you for everything.’❤️
The words WORK AS IF YOU LIVE IN THE EARLY DAYS OF A BETTER NATION ALASDAIR GRAY carved in relief on white Iona marble, in an irregular parallelogram, set into the grey wall of the Scottish Parliament building.
“And best of all is finding a place to be
in the early days of a better civilization”
—Dennis Lee, “Civil Elegies”
Alasdair Gray adapted Lee’s words into his epigram “Work as if you live in the early days of a better nation”. It features on the wall of the @parliament.scot
#WyrdWednesday #GrayDay
✨Happy Gray Day✨
45 years on, Lanark still pulses through Scottish literature. We mark it with a new response to Book Four—Chris Tait’s new Scots poem The Necropolis created whilst on placement—drawn from Gray’s drafts, turning archive into living, echoing art.
It’s here…Happy Gray Day 2026!
25.02.2026 06:11 — 👍 15 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 3
PLEASE SHARE! 🌿
Alasdair Gray & David Stephen: Eden in North Lanarkshire
Sat 14 March 2026, Palacerigg Country Park Visitor Centre. An illustrated afternoon celebrating art, nature & Scotland’s industrial heartland.
Book via link below 👇🏽
🎉 Exciting Update! 🎉
Gray Day 2026 is officially SOLD OUT! 🙌✨
💛 We are beyond grateful for all the love and support—thanks for helping make this another unforgettable night! See all 350 of you there! 💛
Keep your eyes peeled for exclusive Gray Day content on Wednesday!
Glasgow has lost a radical champion today: David Harding. A beloved Gray Day regular, former Head of Sculpture & Environmental Art at The Glasgow School of Art, and alumnus of Edinburgh College of Art. His belief that “context is half the work” shaped generations.
21.02.2026 19:36 — 👍 9 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 2
In The Herald Scotland today: a special focus on Alasdair Gray, with an article by Evie Glen on our Custodian @sorchadallas.bsky.social’s living archive model with a focus on @aowensarchive.bsky.social, our new commission with Rachelle Atalla & how this celebrates & shapes Scotland’s culture.
21.02.2026 10:25 — 👍 15 🔁 6 💬 1 📌 0
FREE WORKSHOP – Play With Gray: Quick-Response Drawing & Writing
Join us at The Alasdair Gray Archive (10 March 2026, 11am–1pm) for a playful, fast-paced drawing & writing session. No experience needed. 15 places. Supported by @sgsah.bsky.social
Book: info@thealasdairgrayarchive.org
Introducing our final Gray Day animator, Miranda Peyton Jones ✨
One of five artists responding to the new Lanark audiobook, narrated by Alan Cumming, and the Epilogue of Alasdair Gray.
See her work at Gray Day 2026
📍 Òran Mór
📅 25 Feb 2026
🎟 £22 + fee
🙏to @canongate.co.uk
Meet animator Tintin Lindkvist Nielsen for Gray Day ✨ She’s creating new work for Chapter Twenty Two (Book Two) of the audiobook of Lanark by Alasdair Gray, narrated by Alan Cumming and published by Canongate—exploring Gray’s Glasgow in her vibrant style.
18.02.2026 08:42 — 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Introducing our next Gray Day animator, Yu Sun ✨ One of five artists responding to the new Lanark audiobook narrated by Alan Cumming, Yu reimagines Chapter Twelve through stitched lines and textured animation inspired by Alasdair Gray’s world.
17.02.2026 08:50 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
✨ Introducing Oliver Pearse, one of five animators responding to the new Lanark audiobook, narrated by Alan Cumming. His film explores Chapter Six (Book Three) of Lanark. Using layered archival imagery and charcoal under-camera animation, Oliver brings Gray’s ledger to life.
16.02.2026 09:32 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Happy #WorldHippoDay! Here’s “The Scots Hippo”, written & illustrated by Alasdair Gray …
Images: The Scots Hippo (1–7), one of a series of prints by Alasdair Gray – available from @glasgowprintstudio.bsky.social
#poem #poetry
shop.glasgowprintstudio.co.uk/artists/38-a...
We’re delighted to see @sundaypost.com celebrate Alasdair Gray ahead of Gray Day (25.02.26) at Òran Mór.
At The Alasdair Gray Archive, we keep his work open, active and alive. Culture is a shared right—join us!
Introducing the Gray Day animators ✨ Ann Dinh responds to Chapter One (Book Three) of Lanark by Alasdair Gray, narrated by Alan Cumming. Commissioned by AGA & @canongate.co.uk. See it 25 Feb 2026, 7–10pm at Òran Mór. 🎟 £22 + fee. Last 30 tickets available!
15.02.2026 09:51 — 👍 6 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Happy Valentine’s Day!
This embracing couple appears across many of Alasdair’s works—from Love Satisfied (1996) and Ardent Lovers (2012) to Lanark (1981). First seen as Adam and Eve in Greenhead Church (1963).
It’s World Radio Day! 📻
One of Alasdair Gray’s early radio plays, “Mr Meikle – An Epilogue,” from Ten Tales Tall and True (1993), aired on BBC Radio 4 in 2004. It reflects on a teacher who shaped his literary path and love of Glasgow.
Our limited-edition Gray Day merch shines in new photos by our placement student Karin. Meet the ‘Lanark’ notebook and ‘Words, Wards, Wurds’ pen. Bundle £5 (RRP £6.50). Discount until 25.02.26. Shop via link in bio!
13.02.2026 07:25 — 👍 4 🔁 2 💬 1 📌 0
Not long to go til Gray Day 2025 – Reimagined Glasgow: 45 Years of Lanark. We reach Book 4 (1981): Lanark returns to Unthank in a surreal finale, ending with Gray’s reimagining of Hobbes’ Leviathan presiding over Scotland featuring the face of his friend Malcolm Hood.
GOODBYE!
It was a pleasure to welcome @creativescots.bsky.social Literature Officers Beth Cochrane & Alice Tarbuck to the archive today, and to catch up on our two new writer residencies exploring the work of Alasdair Gray and Agnes Owens @aowensarchive.bsky.social, supported through the Open Fund.
11.02.2026 15:14 — 👍 5 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
2026 marks 45 years since Alasdair Gray’s Lanark (1981) published by @canongate.co.uk. As we prepare for Gray Day 2026, we revisit Book Two, where Duncan Thaw’s mental health declines. Its frontispiece reworks Vesalius, paralleling Thaw’s study of anatomy with his own scrutiny and unraveling.
11.02.2026 07:27 — 👍 9 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
This Year’s Gray Day on 25 Feb celebrates the 45th anniversary of Alasdair Gray’s LANARK
@nicolameighan.bsky.social speaks to custodian of the @agrayarchive.bsky.social Sorcha Dallas, @josielong.bsky.social, & Rachelle Atalla about the upcoming celebration
💙📚
www.akickupthearts.org/blog-3-1/jos...
Today we dive into Book One’ artwork of Alasdair Gray’s Lanark published by @canongate.co.uk as we count down to Gray Day 2026. Inspired by Bacon’s Novum Organum, it introduces Duncan Thaw, a sickly, precocious boy growing up in Glasgow’s East End. Can you spot James Kelman?
10.02.2026 08:57 — 👍 7 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
‘Lanark’ published by @canongate.co.uk opens with Book Three: Lanark arrives in Unthank, a sunless city of allegorical disease. His “dragonhide” embodies his inability to love. The frontispiece reworks Raleigh’s History of the World in Gray’s style, seen here alongside Gray’s reimagined versions.
09.02.2026 07:27 — 👍 7 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
45 years since Alasdair Gray’s Lanark (1981). We’re exploring its artwork, all by Gray. The title page remixes key motifs: the Brain Baby, Marion Oag’s portrait, and Applecross landmarks—micro-stories before page one.
08.02.2026 09:35 — 👍 5 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
