The Poetic Spark
Poetry programme. The inscription on Muriel Spark's grave in Tuscany reads 'Muriel Spark. Poeta'. AL Kennedy explores what insights can be found in her poetry.
The inscription on Muriel Spark's tombstone in Tuscany reads 'Muriel Spark. Poeta'.
Surprising perhaps: because, despite the fact that Spark always referred to herself as a poet, it's her reputation as a novelist, and the creator of the charismatic Jean Brodie, for which she's better known.
Before Muriel was anywhere near her prime, she'd established a reputation as a poet. Aged just fourteen, she won a prestigious poetry competition celebrating the centenary of Walter Scott. Later, she published several collections to glowing reviews and completed a controversial stint as Editor of the Poetry Review, during which time she gathered as many enemies as her fictional alter-ego, Jean Brodie (notably Marie Stopes about whom she famously quipped: 'I used to think it a pity that her mother rather than she had not thought of birth control')!
Muriel Spark kept writing poetry throughout her life. 10 years after her death, AL Kennedy, a long term admirer of her novels and short stories, wonders what new insights the poems might lend to her writing and character.
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Fiona Sampson
Professor of Poetry at the University of Roehampton, where she is the Director of the Roehampton Poetry Centre and Editor ofΜύPoem.Μύ
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She has published twenty books, including works of poetry, volumes on the philosophy of language and on the writing process. Her poetry has been published and broadcast in more than thirty languages.
Michael Schmidt
FRSL, poet, scholar, critic and translator, Michael was born in Mexico in 1947; he studied at Harvard and at Wadham College, Oxford, before settling in England. Among his many publications are several collections of poems and a novel, The Colonist (1981), about a boy’s childhood in Mexico. He is general editor of PN Review and founder as well as managing director of Carcanet Press. He lives in Manchester.
Alan Taylor
Alan Taylor is founding editor of the Scottish Review of Books. He writes for the Times Literary Supplement, the Herald and the Sunday Herald. Glasgow: The Autobiography will be published later this year. Forthcoming is a memoir of Muriel Spark, whose friendship he enjoyed from 1990 until her death in 2006.Μύ
Penelope Jardine
Muriel Spark’s companion, friend and helper for many years.
Alexandra Mathie
Alexandra Mathie’s stage work includes productions at the National Theatre, the Royal Exchange, Royal Lyceum, Stephen Joseph Theatre and in the West End.Μύ Amongst many television appearances she has been seen in Coronation Street, Doctors, Eastenders and Casualty.Μύ She is regularly to be heard on Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio.
Broadcasts
Sun 10 Apr 2016 16:30Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4- Sat 16 Apr 2016 23:30Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4
- Mon 30 May 2016 16:00Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio Scotland