Open The Door 2021

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What is Open the Door?

Never before has Scotland’s literary scene been as energised, bold, and international as it is today, and a large part of that is thanks to the brilliance of contemporary women writers. It seemed only right to celebrate this achievement of women writers with a festival of their own and so Open the Door was born in 2017.

Open the Door is unique; it is a festival that breaks down the barriers between writers and readers and generates poignant, important discussions. The title of the festival comes from Catherine Carswell’s classic work of fiction and we want to create open doors into the worlds of reading and writing through every event and conversation.

Festival Theme

Inspired by Glasgow’s long history of bold, creative women, our theme this year will be writers who are artists and artists who are writers, and we’ll be celebrating how they weave these two practices together. 

From workshops to nurture your own creativity, to convivial conversations to inspire and illuminate, and social media activity taking place each day, our Festival will open the doors into the worlds of reading, writing and art. Featuring contemporary writers and artists including Amanda Thomson, Amy Gear, Shazleen Khan, Kate Charlesworth, Sabba Khan, and Nyla Ahmad and spotlighting the work of historic writers and artists Wendy Wood, Edith Simon and Zarina Hashmi, this is a Festival like no other.

Events at a Glance

Wednesday 14th April

2pm: Calm Slam Workshop: Inspired by Art

Monday 10th May

1pm: In Conversation with Amanda Thomson and Amy Gear

Thursday 20th May

2pm: Stitches and Stories

6.30pm: Absence/Presence

Friday 21st May

2pm: Concrete Poetry Workshop

6.30pm: In Conversation with Kate Charlesworth and Shazleen Khan

Saturday 22nd May

2pm: In Conversation with Sabba Khan and Nyla Ahmad

We know that it’s helpful to know what to expect when booking on to online events so we’ve written a blog which you can find here, telling you a bit more about the booking process and how we create a friendly and accessible space online.

Project pages