‘The Legacy of Elizabeth Pringle’ – Kirsty Wark at SELS on 5th April
Published On Fri 28 Mar 2014 by Grant Hill
‘The Legacy of Elizabeth Pringle’ – Kirsty Wark at SELS on 5th April
Journalist and broadcaster Kirsty Wark will read from and discuss her debut novel when she delivers the next instalment of the University of Dundee’s Saturday Evening Lecture Series (SELS).
The famously combative interviewer will be the one fielding questions about her work from the audience when she appears at the Dalhousie Building, Old Hawkhill, on Saturday, 5th April.
Her first book, ‘The Legacy of Elizabeth Pringle’ was published earlier this month to critical acclaim. Set on the Scottish island of Arran, it is a captivating and haunting story of the richness beneath so-called ordinary lives and the secrets and threads that hold the characters together.
Kirsty Wark was born in Dumfries and joined the BBC as a researcher in 1976 before going on to become one of the broadcaster’s most recognisable and respected faces. She currently hosts a variety of BBC programmes, including Newsnight and The Review Show.
She said, “I set the novel in 2006 so Elizabeth Pringle could have lived through both World Wars, the first as a child and the second as an adult. We are at the end of that era now. I wanted to address the fact that in our contemporary society, there can be a kind of dismissal of a person in their late eighties or early nineties. But that person you walk past in the street had a life. They experienced the privations of war, horror and romance. I wanted a character whom I gave that backstory.
“It was really a love letter to the Isle of Arran. My earliest memories of being on holiday are of there. It’s so close to Glasgow but just crossing the water creates a kind of magic.”
This year is the 90th anniversary of SELS, Scotland's oldest continuous free public lecture series which continues to attract thousands of people each year eager to hear from prestigious, world-class speakers.
The tradition of holding public lectures dates right back to the founding of University College Dundee in 1881. The early professors and staff were keen to establish and strengthen ties with the people of Dundee and Tayside holding evening classes, giving public lectures and undertaking welfare projects.
The public lecture programmes reflected research interests of College staff as well as topics that were of a more general nature. The evening lectures as we know them today can be traced back to a series of lectures held jointly with the Dundee Naturalists Society beginning with a lecture by Principal John Yule Mackay on Primitive Man in October 1924.
‘The Legacy of Elizabeth Pringle’ takes place at the Dalhousie Building on Saturday, 5th April at 6pm. A book signing and drinks reception will follow the talk.
Free tickets for this event are available from events@dundee.ac.uk, www.dundee.ac.uk/tickets, Tower Building Reception or by calling 01382 385564/385108.
Please note that overflow theatres may be in use and the Main Lecture Theatre is filled on a first come, first seated basis.
For media enquiries contact:
Grant Hill
Press Officer
University of Dundee
Nethergate, Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384768
E-MAIL: g.hill@dundee.ac.uk
MOBILE: 07854 953277