Final tranche of the archive of Muriel Spark

Item author: Muriel Spark
Item date: 1918-2006
Grant Value: £10,000
Item cost: £100,000
Item date acquired: 2015
Item institution: National Library of Scotland
Town/City: Edinburgh

The Muriel Spark archive is one of the largest held by the National Library of Scotland. Dame Muriel held onto almost everything on paper, so readers and researchers to delve into the collection, mining its abundant riches for new perspectives and a deeper understanding of one of Scotland's literary greats.

This final tranche of the archive includes an unpublished poem, written at the age of 11 or 12; an early, unpublished story’; the typescript of a radio play written in Africa; drafts and typescripts of essays; correspondence; annotated books from Dame Muriel’s library, together with the extensive and heavily annotated drafts and corrections to Martin Stannard’s biography.

NLS has new collaborative doctoral partnerships and new connections with reading and research communities, and in winter 2017-2018 hosts an exhibition featuring the highlights of this wonderful material to coincide with the centenary of Dame Muriel's birth. A major symposium will be held in collaboration with the University of Glasgow’s Scottish Literature department. Collaborative work with the National Theatre of Scotland and a film season at the Edinburgh Filmhouse are also amongst the possibilities being considered.