The Muriel Spark Society Lecture 2020

We are delighted to announce that we are able to hold our annual lecture over the Web this year. The event is part of the National Library of Scotland's zoom events programme and we are once again very grateful for the support. Our speaker is Professor Fiona Sampson, who, like Spark, has written a biography of Mary Shelley. She was also only the second female editor of Poetry Review after Spark herself in the 1940s. Professor Sampson's title: Muriel Spark: finding her form. The lecture will broadcast on November 12 at 5pm. We will send out more joining instructions nearer the time, but advise that you register with Eventbrite. We look forward to the worldwide audience that will for the first time be able to join us for our lecture.

Muriel Spark and the Art of Deception - new article

It is a pleseure to welcome our new member, Biatriz Lopez, a PhD candidate at Durham University. She also kindly gave us a note of an intriguing article she has just published: I'm writing to you because I have just published a new journal article, 'Muriel Spark and the Art of Deception: Constructing Plausibility with the Methods of WWII Black Propaganda', in the Review of English Studies, which I think may be of interest to members of the Muriel Spark Society. If you circulate a mailing list or are active in social media, would you please be able to feature some information about the article? It can be accessedthrough the following link: https://doi.org/10.1093/res/hgaa039

Terence Greer Book artist 1929-2020

Sad to report the passing of the brilliant book artist Terence Greer, who died recently in Canada. As you can see from above, and below, he produced wonderfully memorable covers for Muriel's books for Penguin. He also did a work for Radio Times, which some may remember.
Great to see these images again.

Aileen Christianson

Sad to announce the passing of the academic and writer Aileen Christianson, aged 75. She was a life member of the Society and spoke for us at the National Library of Scotland.There is an obituary in the Guardian in which Muriel gets a mention, 23 June 2020.

Muriel Spark, Mary Shelley and a 21st Century plague

Muriel Spark praised Mary Shelley’s The Last Man, which deals with a 21st Century plague. There is a paperback edition from OUP if it is not too near the bone, although many are reading Defoe and Camus for plague literature!

Nash Ensemble

Many  will remember with pleasure the Nash Ensemble at the Spark concert in the Queen’s Hall in January. You can now hear a lot more of them in Radio 3’s lunchtime concert series this week, and also on BBC Sounds. Enjoy.

Miss Blaine’s Prefect and the Vampire Menace

Congratulations to our member Olga Wojtas on the recent publication of her second novel featuring fifty something librarian Shona, former pupil of Marcia Blaine. This time her adventures take her o fin de siecle France, with Debussy and Alan Taylor making appearances ...
Paperback original from Contraband £8.99. Kindle edition £3.99.
Forgive the personal reference, but this post was written by a fifty-something librarian!

Appointment in Arezzo - A Good Read

Alan Taylor’s Appointment in Arezzo will be discussed on Radio 4’s A Good Read tomorrow (24 March) at 4.30pm. Happy listening.
Good wishes of encouragement and comfort to all, especially if you are self-isolating. Take care.

Zoe Caldwell 1933-2020

Sad to note the death this month of the four time Tony Award winner Zoe Caldwell. She won a Tony Award for her Broadway portrayal of Miss Jean Brodie in 1968.

Eric Lloyd 1923-2019

The Society is deeply saddened to announce the passing of Eric Lloyd on December 27, at the age of 96. Eric was our founding Treasurer and was an indispensable support to his wife Christine in establishing and developing the Muriel Spark Society. The Chairman will attend the funeral on January 10th. Our sincerest condolences to Christine.

Henry Kondracki: literary supplement

A chamber exhibition of paintings by Kondracki inspired by literary Edinburgh is on at the Royal Scottish Academy until January 5 2020. As you might imagine, Muriel Spark and Jean Brodie feature prominently. Entrance is free.

Muriel Spark Society Book Group

The Muriel Spark Society Book Group will meet on Monday 20 January at 6pm. The location is the Saltire Society just off the High Street in Edinburgh. Gail Wylie will lead a discussion of the poems by Spark which inspired David Matthews musical piece, White Flame, to be performed by the Nash
Ensemble with mezzo soprano a week hence at the Queen’s Hall (see separate post below)
The five early poems are:
The Victoria Falls
Like Africa
Winter Poem
To Lucius Sestius in the Spring
Epilogue

Concert for Muriel Spark

A concert with a Scottish premiere of a piece inspired by Spark’s poetry will be held in Edinburgh’s Queen’s Hall on Monday 27 January 2020 at 7.45pm. The new piece, White Flame, is by David Matthews and is for piano quintet and mezzo soprano. The piece was commissioned by Penelope Jardine to mark Dame Muriel’s centenary in 2018.
The Nash Ensemble will perform in a concert supported by the Muriel Spark Society and The New Town Concert Society.
There is a pre concert talk at 6.30 pm: composer David Matthews and Alan Taylor.
Tickets are available from the Queen’s Hall Box Office:
0131 668 2019.

Muriel Spark Society Annual Birthday Lunch 2020

Our annual Birthday Lunch will take place on Sunday 26 January at 12.30pm. The venue is the Bruntsfield Hotel Edinburgh. Once again there will be a raffle and a quiz (with prizes!) on the novel, Memento Mori. In honour of the closeness to Burns day, haggis will be on the menu. The lunch is £32 per head with fizz on arrival and a glass of wine with lunch. It is open to non-members; please contact the Society if you would like to join us.

Angus P Collins 1943-2019

It is with sadness we announce the passing of Angus Collins. Angus’s course on Muriel Spark is the context out of which the Society grew. He inspired our founder, Christine Lloyd, and encouraged her to write to Spark to gain her blessing for the formation of a society in her name. He worked on the Committee, led book groups with quiet precision, and co-edited our newsletter. Many members will have happy memories of him.
The Chairman attended the funeral at the invitation of his widow, Hiromi.

Janice Galloway gives our annual lecture 12 November 2019

Janice Galloway delivered a fresh, detailed and unique perspective on Muriel Spark at the National Library of Scotland this week. The event was booked out, and informed questions taken at the end. She spoke about meetings with Spark, Spark's works and life. All was engagingly illustrated with colourful slides and a sound excerpt form an interview. Great to hear Muriel's voice once again.

Agnes Crawford in Venice ...

Check out Rome specialist Agnes Crawford on Venice. Wonderful images and insights.
@understandrome.

Scottish premiere of music inspired by Muriel Spark

A special coda to the Muriel Spark centenary with the first performance in Scotland of David Matthews’ setting of Muriel Spark poems, White Flame. This will be framed by a hallmark Nash Ensemble selection from some of the best-loved works in the chamber repertory.


Mozart: Piano Quartet in G minor K478
David Matthews: ‘White Flame’ – a setting of Muriel Spark poems for mezzo-soprano, piano and string quartet
Brahms: Two songs Op 91 for voice, viola & piano
Schumann: Piano Quintet in E flat Op 44
Victoria Simmonds: mezzo-soprano


Preceded at 6.30pm by a talk by composer David Matthews and Alan Taylor, past Chairman of The Muriel Spark Society, on the work commissioned to celebrate her writings.

Nash Ensemble, 19:45 Monday 27 Jan 2020

The Queen's Hall, The Queen's Hall, 85-89 Clerk St, Edinburgh, EH8 9JG

Tickets £16-£25

To book tickets, please call the Box Office on +44 (0)131 668 2019. Opening hours are generally 10am to 5.15pm, although these are extended when there is an event on.

Presented by New Town Concerts Society in association with The Muriel Spark Society and with financial assistance from the Muriel Spark Foundation.

Janice Galloway on Muriel Spark

Acclaimed Scottish novelist Janice Galloway will deliver the annual Muriel Spark Society Lecture at the National Library of Scotland, George IV Bridge, on November 12 2019 at 5.30pm.
The free lecture is now fully booked, but you can contact the National Library of Scotland to be added to the waiting list. Contact NLS events: 0131 623 3734.

Spark at the Edinburgh Art Festival 2019

A Bust of Muriel Spark features in the exhibition below:


NICOLE FARHI: WRITING HEADS

Current exhibition

25 July - 31 August 2019

• Overview
• Works

Overview

Nicole Farhi: Writing Heads - a selection

The Fine Art Society in Edinburgh presents Writing Heads, an exhibition of 25 busts of 20^th century novelists and playwrights sculpted in ciment fondu and painted by Nicole Farhi MRSS, from Françoise Sagan to Muriel Spark and Samuel Beckett. Farhi models her figures as a response to their identity and work, sculpting after her feelings towards the figure as much as their recognisable qualities.

Tutored and mentored by Eduardo Paolozzi and Jean Gibson, Farhi is a member of the Royal Society of Sculptors and has exhibited at Gainsborough’s House and Beaux Arts London.

A limited edition of bronze casts from the busts are available for sale in an edition of 7.

Nicole Farhi: Writing Heads is part of the Edinburgh Art Festival,
25 July - 25 August 2019 edinburghartfestival.com @EdArtFest #EdArtFest