Guest blogger – Morag Wells
18th June, 2015
Morag Wells, a recent graduate of the University of St Andrews, was a guest blogger at the Walter Scott Prize and Young Walter Scott Prize events on 13th June 2015. Here are her reflections on the day.
Ann Weisgarber at Young Walter Scott Prize workshop
“Saturday the 13th of June saw my first visit to the Borders Book Festival in Melrose, where the culmination of the year long process in choosing a winner for this year’s Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction was to take place. I was also very interested to learn more about a new initiative spearheaded by the Prize’s sponsors, the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch, in the form of the Young Walter Scott Prize. Open to 11–19 year olds, 2015 will be the inaugural year of this new prize which aims to encourage young writers to connect with the past.
There were three events connected with both the Walter Scott and the Young Walter Scott Prizes over the course of the day, the first of these being a stimulating workshop entitled ‘Making History Come Alive’ for young people interested in entering the competition, led by author Ann Weisgarber and Director of the Prize Alan Caig Wilson. Immediately creating an intimate and open atmosphere free from embarrassment or intimidation, both Ann and Alan led the workshop with sensitivity and creativity, engaging well with the young people present. ‘We are the brave people who call ourselves writers’, said Ann, and certainly the Earlston High School students who read out the stunning work they had created when attending a writing workshop at Abbotsford were braveness and eloquence itself. It became very clear, through listening to the pieces read by the students, that the setting of Abbotsford proved incredibly inspiring, and in one of the pieces a young Walter Scott himself appeared as a character.
Pupils from Earlston High School read their work at the Young Walter Scott Prize workshop
With entries for the Prize due in October and more writing workshops to be held before then, it is indeed an exciting time for young writers interested in historical fiction – one of the only rules for the Prize is that they write about a time before they were born, and so the scope for creativity is huge.
Following the morning workshop, anticipation began to mount for the big event, that is, the Award Ceremony for this year’s Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction. Three of the seven shortlisted authors – John Spurling, Hermione Eyre and Helen Dunmore – were on site for the ceremony and preceding panel discussion led by Kirsty Wark, which provided an hour’s worth of stimulating and witty discussion. Highlights include a revelation of the background behind the publication of (the eventual winner of this year’s Prize) Spurling’s The Ten Thousand Things, where the long process he underwent in the genesis, writing and publication of the novel was discussed. From being initially inspired by books of Chinese landscapes and Mahler’s ‘Das Lied von der Erde’ in the 60s, to the ten year writing process between 1990 and 2000, to being rejected by 44 publishers before being given the go ahead by Duckworth, this novel underwent an epic process of creation, which in itself makes Spurling’s success the sweeter.
The Walter Scott Prize historical fiction panel Kirsty Wark, Helen Dunmore, Hermione Eyre, John Spurling
Alongside these insights, there was interesting discussion on the differing approaches each author took to the writing of historical fiction, in particular whether or not it is important to note ‘what’s real and what’s not’, which is certainly a technique Hermione Eyre utilises in her debut novel Viper Wine, blending the rich world of the 1630s with thoroughly modern day references, for instance a character who quotes David Bowie lyrics. When discussing with each of the authors whether they had made a point to visit the settings of their novels, Eyre humorously revealed that she did indeed visit Gayhurst House, a key setting in the novel, under the guise of pretending to be interested in buying one of the luxury flats the stately home had been renovated into. Helen Dunmore also admitted to specifically visiting key settings in France for her First World War era novel The Lie, which she stated was primarily interested in the ‘aftermaths and long shadows’ of World War One and its long-term impact on the soldiers. Spurling, on the other hand, chose not to visit China as part of his writing process, primarily because there, understandably, would be very little left to distinguish the 14th century country portrayed in The Ten Thousand Things. All in all, the panel discussion provided in my opinion the perfect level of engagement to those who may have already read some or all of the novels being discussed and those, like myself, who had not. I certainly left the marquee feeling very intrigued to read all of them!
The Award Ceremony then, felt like the perfect culmination to a day spent exploring the boundaries of historical fiction and the enormous range of potential topics and stories that lie therein. Alistair Moffat and James Naughtie did a sterling job of presenting the judges thoughts on each nominated novel and reading excerpts (chosen especially by the authors), respectively. Supported by members of the Really Terrible Orchestra, who had made an appearance at the festival earlier on in the day, the Duke of Buccleuch announcing John Spurling as this year’s winner was definitely the highlight of the day. John and his wife Hilary were visibly touched and surprised at the announcement, and in his acceptance speech Spurling conveyed his happiness to have ‘made it’ at 78, rather than very early on in his career.
John Spurling receives the 2015 Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction
All in all, visiting Melrose and the Borders Book Festival for the first time on Saturday proved to be an assortment of delights, from hearing ten to seventy-something year olds talk about their relationship with historical fiction in equally delightful terms, as well as coming away with lots more to be added to my ‘must read’ list. I hope to be back!”