Kathleen Jamie was born in Johnstone in 1962, and studied at the University of Edinburgh. These papers date from the period 1988 to 1997. During this time, Kathleen Jamie was writer in residence to various organisations, including the Workington Docks Project and the University of Dundee, and was awarded the Scottish Arts Council Scottish-Canadian Fellowship in 1994. The collection includes papers relating to the following published or broadcast works:

The Golden Peak (London: Virago, 1992).

Kathleen Jamie and Sean Mayne Smith, The Autonomous Region (Newcastle upon Tyne: Bloodaxe, 1993).

The Queen of Sheba (Newcastle upon Tyne: Bloodaxe, 1994).

John Burnside, Robert Crawford, and Kathleen Jamie, Penguin Modern Poets 9 (London: Penguin, 1996).

Ultrasound, a radio drama broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 1996.

The papers include notebooks, diaries, worksheets, typescripts, manuscripts and publicity material.