Leading playwright, poet and former Makar becomes only the fourth Honorary President of the SSP in its 45 year history.
The SSP is delighted to announce today that Liz Lochhead has accepted an invitation to become the Society’s new Honorary President. The position is a lifetime appointment and has previously been held by only three other playwrights – Robert McLellan, Ena Lamont Stewart and Hector MacMillan.
Following the loss of Hector MacMillan in 2018 the SSP initiated a consultation and nomination process with its members to find a successor. Liz Lochhead emerged as the outstanding candidate. Liz is a long-standing and active member of the Society and has previously served on its Council.
Liz Lochhead is a graduate of Glasgow School of Art and established a reputation in poetry before turning her hand to playwriting. Her plays include the acclaimed Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off and a celebrated Scots adaptation of Moliere’s Tartuffe. More recently her adaptation of Euripides’ Medea won the Saltire Society Scottish Book of the Year Award. She has been both Poet Laureate for Glasgow and Scots Makar. In 2015 she was awarded the Queens Gold Medal for Poetry.
Liz said of her new role: “Being a member of the SSP since the early 80s – even once a member of the Council – I was amazed and delighted to be offered the incredible honour of becoming the Society’s Honorary President. I look forward to being an advocate for Scotland’s playwrights – and their audiences – in this increasingly difficult time for theatre.”
Chair of the SSP, Stephen Greenhorn, said: “We are thrilled that Liz has agreed to become our Honorary President. She is a brilliant writer and a passionate champion for the arts in general and playwriting in particular. It is wonderful to have her experience and wisdom to draw on.”
The Scottish Society of Playwrights is a member’s organisation representing professional dramatists in Scotland. It was founded in 1973 and since then has represented the interests of playwrights throughout Scotland and abroad. In that time it has helped establish a standard contract for commissioning new plays and lead a successful playwrights’ strike in the early nineties to increase the fees paid.