Scottish Writers' Centre Ten Sibyls with Anne Scriven

From Greek Σιβυλλα (Sibylla), meaning "prophetess, sibyl". In Greek and Roman legend the sibyls were ten female prophets who practiced at different holy sites in the ancient world.

In the build up to International Women’s Day, the Scottish Writers’ Centre welcomes writer, Anne Scriven who will be discussing her creative approach to non-fiction. The art of narrative non-fiction is the art of paying attention. In this session Scriven will discuss how she came to appreciate and practice this awareness and weave a text out of conscious gazing. It has been a journey largely contoured by the wisdom of women. Some of these women Scriven has encountered in lived reality, others she has met and may only ever meet, in their literary creations: Virginia Woolf ; Mrs Oliphant; Margaret Elphinstone; Kathleen Jamie …,

Each of these special women continue to offer teachings that, like the ancient Sybil’s, are sacred in their intent and passed on for interpretation. Drawing on my her published life writing Scriven will illustrate how the honing of her own words is helped and heightened by the sagacity of her own personal Sibyls.

Anne Scriven is a freelance published writer and currently holds a part-time position in a second-hand bookshop. She is also a former lecturer in Scottish Literature. Her publications include narrative non-fiction writing: Learning to Listen: Life and a Nervous Dog (Kilkerran: Kennedy & Boyd, 2013), Provenance: Tales from a Bookshop (Kilkerran: Kennedy and Boyd, 2015), Cadences: Notes From An Ordinary Life (EPD, Autumn 2017) and Poetry: ‘Blythe’ and ‘First Day’, Glasgow Women Poets: A Collection, (ed., Murphy et al, Four-em Press, 2016), ‘The Swing of It’, Paisley Poems (Paisley 2021, Culture, Heritage and Events Fund, Autumn 2017). Scriven is the Central Co-ordinator of the for Women For Independence, Paisley branch. She has chaired a public evening with Lesley Riddoch entitled ‘Stands Scotland Where It Did?’, (Paisley Oct 2014) an Open Mic evening ‘Women Building A Better Scotland’, (Paisley, Oct 2016) and a public interview with Mhairi Black, the return candidate for SNP, (May 2017).