Scottish Writers' Centre The Accidental Author: From Head to Page and Beyond with Gowan Calder

Gowan Calder is an actress and 'accidental' writer. She began writing for theatre when her acting colleagues complained they were looking for voices that just weren't there.

She stopped thinking of the voices in her head as simply a lively diversion and started putting them down on paper. The voices began to demand an audience; Gowan followed them. She has written for radio - Bang Bang You're Dead, Nude, Untitled, Mrs McCaulay is Carried Forward (BBC Radio 4) - and theatre: An Audience with the Lizard Lady, Backstage at the Pussy Kat Klub, (Courtyard Theatre, Hereford and national tour) Days of War and Rosie, (A Play, A Pie and A Pint), Truth Conquers All (West Lothian Youth Theatre). She is also the author of two interactive graphic novels for young people; Skint and Walk the Walk (Scottish Book Trust).

Gowan has mentored and encouraged many other writers as a writer-in-residence at Glenochil Prison, a lecturer in playwriting at Queen Margaret University and through a variety of workshops with both children and adults. In this capacity she is often asked about her process and how she sustains the luxury of writing as a career. She believes strongly that both her writing and getting her work produced are the results of ongoing interactions with other writers and practitioners, new and established, and of sharing practises and connections within the community.