Makars’ Court 2008

The first permanent memorial to Dame Muriel is in Makars’ Court in Edinburgh

- thanks to the members of the Muriel Spark Society.

The stone was laid in 2008 for Dame Muriel's 90th.

See The Scotsman for further details.

Some photos and a video from the event below:

Makars' Court

Eric Dickson, Gail Wylie, Alan Taylor and Lorna Statham from the Muriel Spark Society 

and Deirdre Brock from The City of Edinburgh Council

For the Society blog of 31 May 2008 click here .

Video courtesy of Sean Groat at www.luxvideo.co.uk

Gail Wylie on the centenary

The Society is delighted to be a supporter of the centenary celebrations including the new publication of all Dame Muriel's novels by Polygon. 
See the Muriel Spark Centenary Editions at www.birlinn.co.uk

For Gail Wylie’s centenary interview for Creative Scotland

Click here

Polygon publishes all the novels

Polygon are publishing all 22 novels over the next year. Edited by Alan Taylor, they each have an introduction by leading writers (including past Annual Lecturers such as Candia McWilliam and Ronald Frame). Each cover is a different colour; the back carries a photograph of Muriel at the age of writing that particular novel; on the cover a quotation from the text and a typewriter keyboard show the order in which the novels were originally published.  This stunning collection is a fitting testament to Spark in her Centenary year.
The Muriel Spark Society was able to help support this initiative through the generosity of its members and we will be acknowledged in each edition.
Visit Polygon's website (www.birlinn.co.uk) or CLICK HERE to find out more.

Annual Lecture 2017: Ali Smith

The Society is delighted to welcome  Ali Smith as our lecturer on November 14 at 6 pm at the National Library of Scotland, George IV Bridge, Edinburgh.  The subject of her lecture will be Spark and Time.

This event is free but booking a ticket is essential.  Visit www.nls.uk/events or telephone 0131 623 3734.

(Members contact Eric as there are some places reserved for members of the Society)

This lecture marks the first public event celebrating Muriel Spark's Centenary in 2018.  Further details of all events, exhibitions, publications and much more will be posted here and on the Muriel Spark 100 website.

Successful Lyon and Turnbull sale

The sale of books and a table from the estate of Robin Spark attracted great interest.  In particular, a first edition of 'The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie', inscribed by Dame Muriel to her son "To Robin, Love and wonkies, Mummy xxx" fetched £21,250 - 42 times its estimate.

Edinburgh International Children's Festival

If any members are interested in helping out at the following Festival, please follow the link.  I'm posting this message on behalf of its organisers who are led by Pamela Walker, previously with the National Theatre of Scotland. 

Volunteering at the Festival

We are looking for enthusiastic and committed volunteers to join the 2017 Festival team during the week of 27 May – 4 June.

Volunteers play an integral part in making the Festival happen each year and we welcome volunteers from all walks of life. Our Volunteers are the public face of the Festival; helping our school, family and delegate audiences at each venue, staffing industry and guest events, and supporting the Festival team behind the scenes throughout the week.

In return for your time and commitment you'll be able to see Festival performances, attend social events, and take part in a hugely exciting, creative and rewarding week.

If you are interested, please apply by forwarding a covering letter and your CV to volunteers@imaginate.org.uk.

0131 225 8050 • www.imaginate.org.uk
30B Grindlay Street, Edinburgh, EH3 9AX­­

Edinburgh International Children's Festival 27 May – 4 June 2017

Imaginate is a company limited by guarantee registered at the above address.
Company No. SC115855 • Charity No. SC016437 • VAT No. 553 3970 29

Promoting and developing theatre and dance for children and young people in Scotland

Annual November Lecture

On the 14th of November at 6 pm the annual lecture at the National Library of Scotland will be given this year by the innovative and acclaimed novelist Ali Smith.
20 seats are reserved for members of the Society.  This lecture is limited to 100 people and is free, but a reserved ticket is essential.
Further details of booking a seat will be made available nearer the time.

AGM June 14th 2017

This year the AGM will be held on June 14th at 7 pm at the Saltire Society, High Street, Edinburgh.
After business, we will be given a short talk by Professor Alan Riach, Professor of Scottish Literature at the University of Glasgow.
We will then proceed to a nearby restaurant for dinner. If you are interested in coming to the dinner please let our Treasurer know by May 31st.

Visit to the Court of the Lord Lyon

Miss Jean Brodie famously told her set, 'If I were to receive a proposal of marriage from the Lord Lyon King of Arms I would decline it.'  The Society is visiting this famous Court on Thursday 23rd of March at 2 pm.  They can accommodate 15 of us, so please put your name down soon.  Email gewylie@btinternet.com for a place. We will meet at the gate of New Register House just before 2 pm. (If you stand at the front door of the Balmoral Hotel and look straight ahead, it's the building ahead of you at the top of the lane.)

Honours List 2017

Congratulations to Sandy Wylie (Lord Kinclaven) on receiving an OBE in today's Honours List.  This is for 'the introduction of the Scottish Legal System in schools.'  To read more about Sandy's initiative (also known as MiniTrials) go thepaisleysnail.blogspot.com

'The Real Muriel Spark'

The Scottish Review of Books has an excellent new website:
scottishreviewofbooks.org
The most recent issue (Vol 11, Number 4, 2016) has an article well worth reading by Alan Taylor, 'The Real Muriel Spark', on the relationship between Muriel and her son Robin, who sadly died earlier this month.

Stewart Conn talks about Muriel Spark's poetry

Stewart Conn will deliver the Poetry Association of Scotland's John Masefield Lecture, 'Mistress of Unease: The Poetry of Muriel Spark' in a joint event with the Muriel Spark Society. 

Wednesday 14 September 2016 at the Scottish Poetry Library, 5 Crichton's Close, Edinburgh EH8 8DT

Tickets at the door (no booking required) £5 or £4 concessions.

Wine reception from 6.30 - 7 pm.  The talk will begin at 7 pm and last about one hour.

Stewart Conn, well known for his lyrical poetry in collections such as 'The Touch of Time', was Edinburgh's inaugural Makar from 2002 to 2005.

Curator's talk: Sparkiving: Loitering with Intent to Catalogue

This excellent talk is available to listen to on the National Library of Scotland's recorded webcast.
Visit http://www.nls.uk/player
Saved webcast: Thursday 23 June, at 18.00

Members' Book Group 7 September and Annual lecture 16 November 2016

Dear Members

You are cordially invited to our Book Group meeting on 7 September at the Saltire Society, at 7pm.

The book for discussion is "The Takeover", and I wish you happy reading or re-reading.

Please also note our annual lecture is on 16 November at 6pm at the National Library of Scotland, George IV Bridge.

Dr Jim Lawson (University of Edinburgh) will give a talk on Spark and Renaissance art, particularly Piero della Francesca.

Places should become bookable in September (around the time of the book group). We have arranged some dedicated places for Society members. I will send out a reminder nearer the time.

          If you would like to join the Society to come to either of these events please follow the email     link on the blog home page.

New Books

Two new books of interest. .

Continuing his alphabetical titles, and following his last book 'Life-like' Toby Litt's new book 'Mutants' is a collection of twenty-six essays, one of which, 'Spark' is based on the excellent lecture he gave for the Society in 2006.
Litt is a writer Muriel Spark particularly liked and in 'Spark' he returns the compliment: 'I will begin with straightforward affection: I love Muriel Spark's books'.  (Seagull Books, London, 2016) £19.50

Carcanet have reissued Spark's biography (first published in 1953) of John Masefield, another of her favourite writers.
'I feel a large amount of my writing on him can be applied generally.  It is in many ways a statement of my position as a literary critic and I hope some readers will recognise it as such.'
(Carcanet, 2016) £14.50

Jean Brodie Walk

On Sunday 15th May, members and friends will be following the walk Jean Brodie took her class. We'll be starting from Makars' Court outside the Writers' Museum at 2 pm and finishing with afternoon tea in Bruntsfield.

Advocates' Library, Edinburgh

Members of the Society are visiting this prestigious library, and Parliament House, in Edinburgh tomorrow.
With thanks to Andrea Longson, we very much look forward to our exclusive visit.

The Driver's Seat

For anyone in London there is a superb window display in Waterstone's Piccadilly featuring Lise.
And on Saturday 23 April Januce Galloway is giving a masterclass there on Spark. Spaces are limited so contact the branch beforehand.
Thanks Waterstones for all the thought you've put into this.

Tweet by WaterstonesPicc on Twitter

	WaterstonesPicc (@WaterstonesPicc)
22/04/2016, 09:24 @gewylie1 Sure! Our windows are big. We have Lise in the window, I made her a special outfit #TheDriversSeat pic.twitter.com/SBzso5gcE1

Muriel Spark the Poet

(The following is a brief piece I was asked to send to the BBC in January when the programme 'The Poetic Spark' was being devised.)

Muriel Spark stated: 'I write as a poet...my novels come under the category of poetics rather than fiction...' 
'Although most of my life has been devoted to fiction, I have always thought of myself as a poet.  I do not write 'poetic' prose, but feel that my outlook on life and my perception of events are those of a poet.  Whether in prose or verse, all creative writing is mysteriously connected with music and I always hope this factor is apparent throughout my work.'
(Spark, Tuscany, 2003: Preface to All the Poems, Carcanet, 2004)

Certainly, her novels carry the signatures of poetry: they are concise, allusive, elusive and open to a variety of readings and interpretations.

When I was asked to give a talk at the Tramway, Glasgow, for the National Theatre of Scotland's production of The Driver's Seat in 2015,  I emphasised the influence on her development as a writer of reading Scottish ballads at her school, James Gillespie's in Edinburgh.

Border Ballads were the real spark for Spark.  Aged ten, she called them her favourite reading material: 'In Edinburgh [they] are best read in the long dark winters...They were cruel and lyrical at the same time and I think they had a great effect on my later literary work.' ('When I was Ten', The Golden Fleece, ed Jardine, Carcanet, 2014)  She entitled one of her novels The Ballad of Peckham Rye, probably as homage to their influence.  The ballads are the very stuff of a Spark novel with their sense of the macabre, their time shifts, their violence, their short, sharp and enigmatic dark narratives written with a deceptively light touch.  The ballads are dispassionate and leave the reader to work out their hidden messages: why was the twa corbies' knight so casually abandoned?  Why was Lord Randall poisoned?

To conclude: in my opinion, the poetry of Spark is more self-revealing than her novels.  She described herself as 'a constitutional exile' and it is in poems such as 'Abroad', 'Communication', 'Standing in the Field', 'Hats' and 'Edinburgh Villanelle' among others that you find this sense of dislocation and exile but, importantly, not unhappiness.

The inscription on her gravestone, translated there into Italian, comes, appropriately, from her poem 'Canaan':

'Not a leaf

Repeats itself, we only repeat the word.'

Gail Wylie

April 2016