Our News

Kirsten MacQuarrie joins LAS Board

Posted on 1st September, 2026 in LAS, Members, News

We are delighted to start our September with the announcement that Kirsten MacQuarrie, of CILIP Scotland, has joined the LAS Board of Trustees.

“The opportunity to join the LAS Board is both a privilege and a pleasure – I can think of no other organisation in Scotland that parallels its unique reach, collective expertise or the sense of solidarity and shared purpose that it offers our literature sector.

As an author and a chartered librarian, I have firsthand experience of the profoundly positive difference that LAS member organisations make to the lives of writers and readers alike, and I greatly look forward to working with fellow Trustees to amplify our sector’s impact and advocate for the support that Scotland’s library and literary ecosystem needs to not just survive but thrive.”

– Kirsten MacQuarrie, Sector Development Manager at Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals Scotland

Kirsten MacQuarrie is an author and Sector Development Manager for CILIP Scotland, the nation’s professional association and leading voice for library workers. As editor of the UK’s first book dedicated to Feminist Librarianship (Facet Publishing, 2026), Kirsten has appeared in The Bookseller and on BBC Woman’s Hour evidencing why she believes that cuts and closures to libraries – staffed by a workforce that is 75% female, with women 36% more likely than men to use their services – are not just misguided but, in impact, misogynistic.

Kirsten’s debut novel Remember the Rowan (Ringwood 2024; Red Squirrel Press 2025), inspired by the true story of the ‘some-requited’ love between poet Dr Kathleen Raine and author-naturalist Gavin Maxwell, was longlisted for The Highland Book Prize and a finalist in The People’s Book Prize. She has also been shortlisted for a Vogue Magazine Young Talent Award, selected as an Editor’s Choice for the John Byrne Award, a prize winner in the Federation of Writers Scotland Vernal Equinox competition, and twice winner of the Glasgow Women’s Library Poetry Prize. Kirsten’s debut poetry pamphlet, Eve Knows, will be published by Blue Diode Press in 2027.

In her spare time, Kirsten volunteers for the Scottish SPCA, the nation’s only all-animal emergency service, and she was named UK Animal Charity Volunteer of the Year 2026.

“We are delighted to welcome Kirsten to the board. She is a passionate advocate for librarians and libraries, and is hugely articulate and insightful about their essential value to communities and society as a whole. Kirsten has long worked with organisations across the literary sector and is committed to the collaboration and support that enables the sector to thrive, both in her professional role and as a novelist and poet. We look forward to Kirsten bringing her ethics-first approach to the development of LAS, particularly as we look towards celebrating 10 years as an SCIO.”

– Philippa Cochrane, Co-Chair of the Literature Alliance Scotland Board

Literature Alliance Scotland is a registered charity, overseen by a Board of Trustees nominated from within the LAS Membership: we aim for a representative spread of the broader sector LAS supports. Many of our trustees are also published writers and bring with them extensive experience as freelancers as well as from previous roles within the Literature sector in Scotland and further afield.

If you are a current LAS member interested in nominating yourself or someone else from your organisation to join the Board of Trustees, please get in touch for an informal discussion with one of our Co-Chairs.