Competition sparked to find artist to design memorial for city author

A competition has been launched to find an artist to create a permanent public artwork celebrating the life and legacy of Edinburgh-born author Dame Muriel Spark.

- by Ian Swanson

The Spirit of Spark commission to honour Dame Muriel, whose most famous novel was The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, is being fully funded by longstanding Edinburgh-based philanthropists Morag and James Anderson.

The new artwork, which will become the first memorial to a woman in the 200-year history of Princes Street Gardens, is intended a lasting legacy in the city of Spark's birth and a “meaningful destination” for residents, visitors and admirers from around the world.

Spark, who died in 2006, aged 88, was one of Scotland's most influential and internationally acclaimed writers.