The Muriel Spark Day at the Bookmark Festival in Blairgowrie was a triumph yesterday. The day began with an affectionate look back at Muriel from her friend Alan Taylor. Their friendship was full of incident and humour, uniquely portrayed . Rosemary Goring then spoke of the fiendishly difficult task of abridging Spark's novel A Far Cry from Kensington for radio. Spark was one of the most economical and concise of writers, with no word wasted, so a tall order. The actor who delivered the radio abridgement was superb, and all went well in the end.
Afterwards novelist Olga Wojtas (a Gillespie's Girl and Committee Member of The Muriel Spark Society) then read from her hilarious book, Miss Blaine's Prefect and the Golden Samovar. She had the hall in peals of laughter. The novel includes incidents involving a time-travelling Marcia Blaine in Morningside Library, hidden copies of Jean Brodie, and Morningside Waitrose ...
After a tasty lunch, inaugural Edinburgh Makar Stewart Conn and actor Gerda Stevenson gave a lecture/presentation on Spark's poetry, beautifully read by Stevenson: a thoughtful end to a very diverse and successful day. Congratulations to all involved in organising it.
There was a tantalising heads up from Gail Wylie too: Spark admirer (and Society annual lecturer in 2017) is heading to Blairgowrie next year - Ali Smith.
1 comment:
Thank you for sponsoring this terrific and unique event. Bookmark was delighted to have you there! Muriel Spark would have loved not just the insights but all the laughter too. Gail Wylie
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