Friends

| friends | av archive | bairnrhymes | bookcases | buses | calendar | grave | lectures |
| makars | music | panels | prize | roll | schools | sculpture | shows | the arch | theatre |
| walks |

Friends of William Soutar Society

FoWSS was created in May 2007 as part of an initiative led by Ajay Close, then Soutar Writer in Residence. FoWSS was accepted as a registered charity (SC039101) by OSCR in December 2007. The main objects of FoWSS are to advance education, the arts, heritage and culture through:

• promoting the work of William Soutar, making his name more familiar to the general public in Scotland and beyond
• bringing his poetry to a new readership using a variety of channels
• gaining wider recognition of his contribution to the Scots language and its literature

FoWSS carries out artistic, literary and scholarly activities to support these objects. This includes research, holding talks and lectures, public readings, dramatic performances, visual arts, publishing new anthologies and works, extending schools' curricula and materials, and supporting new creative writing inspired by Soutar and his birthplace. The current office bearers of FoWSS are:

• Chairman: Iain Mackintosh
• Secretary: Paul Philippou
• Treasurer: Ajay Closes

FoWSS carries on elements of the work performed by Writers in Residence at the Soutar House, a post now discontinued due to lack of funding. Previous incumbents were:

1. Raymond Vettese (1989-90)
2. John Herdman (1990-91)
3. Donald Campbell (1991-93)
4. Robert Alan Jamieson (1993-96)
5. Carl MacDougall (1996-2000)
6. Brian McCabe (2000-2004)
7. Ajay Close (2005-2010)

Dauvit Horsbroch of the Scots Language Centre interviews Iain Mackintosh, chairman of FoWSS, at the Soutar House.