Muriel Spark International Fellowship

The Muriel Spark International Fellowship was announced in 2004 by the Scottish Arts Council. 

Every two years, a leading world writer will come to Scotland for a one-month visit during which they will not only have time to concentrate on their own work but will also take part in a number of public duties.

Canadian author, Margaret Atwood, has just completed her month in Scotland as the inaugural Muriel Spark Fellow. She began her stay at the artists' residency centre, Cove Park, in Argyll and Bute, before moving on to central Edinburgh for the rest of her visit.

During her residency, Margaret has presented several masterclasses, readings and lectures in Edinburgh, Glasgow and St Andrews. She took part in the Edinburgh International Book Festival's first ever October series which was held in the Queen's Hall, as well as giving a reading and question and answer session in St Andrews as part of StAnza. Canongate Books and the Scottish Book Trust presented 'A Conversation with Margaret Atwood and Lewis Hyde' at Edinburgh College of Art and Margaret also visited Glasgow University to present a masterclass in Creative Writing.

Margaret Atwood has written more than 30 critically acclaimed works of fiction, critical essays and poetry, including The Blind Assassin, which won the 2000 Booker Prize for Fiction. She has also had several other works shortlisted for the Booker Prize, including The Handmaid's Tale, Cat's Eyes, Alias Grace and Oryx and Crake, which was also on the shortlist for the 2004 Orange Prize for Fiction.