Janice Galloway - there's something about Muriel ...

Muriel Spark is one of the most extraordinary writers of the 20th Century, and 2018 marks the centenary of her birth. Prolific, needle-bright and sharp as a tack, her novels shine as brightly today as they ever did. Janice Galloway talks about the work, wit and no-nonsense style of one of Scotland’s most original writers, in an event suitable for both fans of Muriel Spark and for those unfamiliar with her work alike.

29 September 8.30pm

Harbour Arts Centre, Irvine.

£8

 

The Public Image (Scottish Lady Tiger)

The Public Image (Scottish Lady Tiger)
—A response to the life of Muriel Spark by Michael Curran

Video and performance artist Michael Curran has created an environment in which a series of actions and performances inspired by the life and work of Muriel Spark can take place. Generator Projects acts as a laboratory, a press office, a casting room, and a film set for Curran and his collaborators to dissect the author’s fascination with appearances and ‘what lies beneath’.

Curran will inhabit the space for the full duration of the show's run—reading aloud from Spark's twenty-two novels, drawing on the walls, playing records, sitting in contemplation soaking his feet, and shredding books to make paper amongst an assortment of objects, videos, and situations which reference Spark's oeuvre and life. The exhibition will act accumulatively, as new elements are introduced or taken away, with the final result an accretion of Curran's time occupying the space.

This exhibition aims to explore some of the ambiguities concerning Spark—the exile, the émigré, and the enigma. As part of the project, Generator is producing an LP The Nine Lives of Muriel Spark with sound artists Viralux aka Trish Lyons & Gordon Dawson,[BOX] (Neil McIntee), UrbanFarmHand (Ben Seal), Somerset Moan (Emil Thompson), Ana Cavic, AD Crawforth, and New Root Canal (Rufus Mich), chosen by Michael Curran and the show’s curator Hari MacMillan. This will be manufactured during the show and released at the finishing party along with performances by the artists on the LP.

All of Spark's novels are available in the space and visitors are encouraged to read from them either silently or out loud. The author considered herself as a poet first and foremost—seeing her novels as long form poetry. Curran has commissioned artistsRebecca Sharp and Valerie Sutton to create a scent named POETA, evoking Spark's luminous aura. Rebecca will introduce the perfume at the closing party on Sunday the 30^th of September at 2pm.

The show will conclude with Curran’s performative lecture Scottish Lady Tiger followed by a performance by some of the artists featured on The Nine Lives of Muriel Spark LP during a closing event that invites local artists, performers, and project participants to join together in celebration of Muriel Spark's Centenary.

Generator is open Thurs – Sun 12-5pm or by appointment

 

generatorprojects.co.uk

scottishladytiger.com

scottishladytiger@gmail.com

Crimes and Misdemeanours of Muriel Spark

The Crimes and Misdemeanours of Muriel Spark – Louise Welsh, Zoe Strachan and Alan Taylor at Bloody Scotland

September 23 @ 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm

£8 – £9

Golden Lion Hotel, Stirling

www.bloodyscotland.com

 

New Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Women

Dame Muriel, and her inspiring teacher Christina Kay, are both included in the New Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Women, to be published by Edinburgh University Press next month. The new edition is published to mark the centenary of women's suffrage, and since Muriel had a suffragette in her family history, we hope she would have been pleased. It would be timely to reread her short story on the movement, Harper and Wilton.

Bluebell Among the Sables

Dame Muriel's poem celebrating her beloved cat Bluebell is included in a handsome new anthology published by Serpent's Tail.

Muriel Spark: child writer, childhood writer, children's writer - Willy Maley

Here is a link to an article by Spark Society member, Professor Willy Maley:

http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/blog/reading/2018/08/muriel-spark-childhood-writer

Spark: poetry and art inspired by the novels of Muriel Spark

Rob A. Mackenzie writes:

I have co-edited (with Louise Peterkin) a poetry anthology containing two poems inspired by each of Muriel Spark's twenty-two novels, and also a few works of Spark-inspired art. It features forty-four of the most interesting and acclaimed poets around today, mainly from the UK, with a special emphasis on Scotland, but also a few from further afield e.g. Sean O'Brien, Vahni Capildeo, Sasha Dugdale, Tishani Doshi, W.N.Herbert, Robert Alan Jamieson etc - everything from T.S. Eliot Prize winners to some of the best of today's 'emerging' poets. And it comes with an introduction by the novelist and short story writer, Olga Wojtas.

The book, which will be called 'Spark' with a subtitle 'Poetry and Art Inspired by the Novels of Muriel Spark', will be published on 15 October 2018 by Blue Diode Press and will cost £10. It will be this new Scottish publisher's first publication. I'm sure it would be of interest to many in the Muriel Spark Society.

The launch will be on Saturday 13 October, 2.30-4pm, at the Scottish Poetry Library, 5 Crichton's Close, Edinburgh EH8 8DT. It's a free event, although we hope people will buy the book! I would be grateful if you could pass on these details to anyone you think might be interested.

I am here, in case you are wondering who I am! - http://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poetry/poets/rob-mackenzie . And this is Louise, my co-editor - http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/writing/scottish-book-trust-training-awards/new-writers-awards/2016-awardees/louise-peterkin
All the best,

Rob A. Mackenzie

Nevertheless: Sparkian tales in Bulawayo

Author Shane Strachan writes:
I will be launching my short fiction collection Nevertheless: Sparkian Tales in Bulawayo (Zimbabwe: amaBooks) in the Suttie Arts Space at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary. The collection has been funded by Creative Scotland in celebration of Muriel Spark's centenary in 2018. The launch will coincide with Buladeen, an exhibition of new work by Bulawayo-based artist collective BUKA who I previously worked with on an arts-in-health project in Zimbabwe. Non-ticketed; all welcome

Memento Muriel

Poet Theresa Munoz explores the use of archives in poetry at the Scottish Poetry Library on 6 October 2018. She has been exploring fan letters to Muriel in the Spark Archive in the National Library of Scotland, and is writing a poetry sequence on them entitled, Why We Love You.

Danz on Muriel Spark ...

Performer and composer Jessica Danz is creating a new work for violin and string quartet inspired by a selection of Muriel Spark’s poetry, which will be performed at the Scottish Poetry Library in Edinburgh on the 14 November 2018.  Jessica will appear as a solo violinist alongside the Brodick Quartet, an ensemble comprised of four of Scotland’s most outstanding young string players.
For more information: https://www.jessicadanz.com/  @jessicadanzmusic
@Jessica_Danz

BookMark Festival celebrates 100 years of Muriel Spark

The BookMark Festival in Blairgowrie celebrates Dame Muriel’s centenary with a full day of events on Sunday 7 October. Participants include Alan Taylor, Rosemary Goring and Gerda Stevenson. Our former Chair Gail Wylie and Committee member Olga Wojtas will help steer the day.
£15 for a day pass. Tickets available from Horsecross: www.horsecross.co.uk.

Appointment in Wigtown...

Alan Taylor will discuss his memoir of Spark, Appointment in Arezzo, at the Wigtown Book Festival on Friday 21 September at 15.30.
£7

Muriel Spark’s Women at Wigtown Book Festival

A event on Spark’s women will take place at Wigtown on Sunday 23 September at 4.30pm.
On the panel is our former Chair, Gail Wylie.
£7
www.wigtownbookfestival.com

Nicola Sturgeon: a life in books

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon will discuss her love of books at the Wigtown Book Festival next month. Going on the evidence of her recent interest in all things Sparkian, there is an excellent possibility that Muriel Spark will figure large. Ms Sturgeon will appear on the first day.

Review of EIBF EVENT from The Scotsman

Earlier on, in the Charlotte Square Sparkathon, we had been tackling the Big One: The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. Teasing out the reasons for its enduring appeal, Candia ­McWilliam was joined by joined by writer and editor Alan Taylor and chairwoman Gail Wylie, the last two both former chairs of the Muriel Spark Society and therefore, for these purposes, very much la crème de la crème.

Shane Strachan on Muriel Spark

Writer Shane Strachan (Creative Scotland Spark 100 Writer) will be reading from a colllection of short stories commissioned  to celebrate Spark’s links with Aberdeen’s twin city, Bulawayo.


The Barn Salon, Banchory
Tuesday 28 August 7.30pm
£5 (£3)
www.thebarnarts.co uk

01330 825431

Muriel Spark at EIBF

There has been a feast of Spark at the Book Festival this centenary year, and five more events are planned from today until Friday. Of particular note is Ali Smith reprising her brilliant Spark and Time, first presented last November as the Muriel Spark Society Lecture. This lecture was recently published by Polygon. Visit the Book Festival site for more details.

Doctors of Philosophy at Edinburgh International Book Festival

The rehearsed reading of Muriel Spark’s play was a triumph last night, with particular praise for Maureen Beattie and Elaine C Smith. The full Spiegeltent resounded with laughter as the mordant satire progressed. I was delighted to see our Patron Penelope Jardine in attendance, as well as the First Minister! Let’s hope we are able to see a fully staged version at the Lyceum in the near future.

Welcome Olga Wojtas!

We are delighted to welcome novelist Olga Wojtas to the Committee of the Muriel Spark Society. Her recent novel, Miss Blaine’s Prefect and the Golden Samovar, has a former pupil of Marcia Blaine as the main character. Olga is herself a former Gillespie’s girl. Very much looking forward to working with her.
Eric Dickson, Chairman

Spark at Glasgow Women’s Library

Narrative Experiments 25 August 2pm Free, but please book

An event looking at Muriel Spark and her contempories.

0141 550 2267

info@womenslibrary.org.uk