I would like to share with you two updates from the Edinburgh Book Festival event about my Mother, Stephanie Wolfe Murray. For one beautiful hour in August authors, publishers and my brother Kim gave a series of short talks about a wonderful woman.
Alexander McCall Smith agreed to share the poem he wrote about my Mother and read out at the event. You can see it below.
I don’t know much about poetry but I find this one remarkable; every time I read it I come away with a new understanding. It seems very rich and I will treasure it.
I also got the approval of McCall Smith, Alasdair Gray, Tom Pow, Jamie Byng and the other speakers to share the audio recording of the Book Festival event. It’s worth listening to as their stories are witty and none have the dourness I associate with memorial events. Just click on the little play button above this text.
The only talk from that event that I am publishing on my blog is the one by my big brother Kim. It was a great talk and by putting it on my blog it will sit alongside the eulogy that my brother Gavin gave at the funeral, as well as all the testimonials that formed the basis for the wee book that we did about her.
Here is Alexander McCall Smith’s poem:
A maker of beautiful books
In memory of Stephanie Wolfe Murray, publisher.
A maker of beautiful books
Knows exactly what it is that makes
Paper, card, printer’s ink,
The raw words of the writer
Into that lovely object
We call a book; understands
The subtle work of fonts,
Of leading, of bindings,
That makes a book something
We wish to hold to ourselves,
To keep and cherish, to read
At times when the soul is in need
Of solace, of insight, and art
That can transform the quotidian Into the transcendent.
A maker of beautiful books
Understands that text
Should whisper to us its message
Like a confiding friend,
Not in the trumpet tones
Of the strident, the polemical,
But gently, tactfully,
In private places of exchange
Where the loud and the angry
Have no wish to linger.
A maker of beautiful books
Brings people together In civil and gracious converse,
Helps the puzzled and confused
To understand what it is
That puzzles or confuses them;
Puts an end to that ignorance
On which evil parasitically
Thrives; shows the weak
The way to strength, brings
Freedom to the most remote corners,
Reminds us of love
And its manifold works.
A maker of beautiful books
Lies in a Borders field
With all the hills as watchmen;
But the books she made
Live on, resolute upon their shelves
In a hundred far-flung places,
Their maker’s advocates, her legacy,
Her sure and beautiful touch
Upon our troubled world,
Less troubled for her presence,
Surer, for her example,
Of the possibilities of truth and beauty.
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Last year, while on a trip to Morocco, I stayed for a few days with and received wonderful hospitality from Jimmy Boyle.
We chatted away about my family and Edinburgh connections and, when touching on the past, I fully appreciated the risks involved in getting A Sense of Freedom published.
Jimmy then expressed his profound and everlasting gratitude to Stephanie for all that she had done for him and I departed with a bottle of olive oil from his farm to give to her on my return. He let me know that A Sense of Freedom was to be republished the following month by Ebury Press. On the front cover of this version, The List reviews the book as ‘One of the most important books ever published about crime and punishment in Britain’. In the foreword Irvine Welsh goes on to write, ‘A Sense of Freedom lays down a challenge to individuals in disadvantaged and perilous circumstances: channel your energy into pursuits that will break your chains rather than simply forge new ones. It’s a challenge that is as liberating and inspiring as ever.” This is an awesome legacy.
The sad news of Stephanie’s passing reached me after a few days into a two week stay on Iona with the Iona Community for the first time. I was so sorry not to make the funeral but was able to read some of the very moving obituaries and tributes while I was there.
Alongside this I was becoming immersed in discovering the vision and purpose which lies at the heart of the work of the Iona Community, as well as the history and natural beauty of the island. Not knowing if Stephanie ever stayed on Iona, I somehow strongly felt that it was a place that she would have loved, knowing of her love for some of the other remote Scottish islands.
The Iona Community’s vision is for a world in which all can flourish as God intends, working for justice and peace and the rebuilding of community. This was a time and for so many others who have stayed there, was to reflect on how this vision and purpose could be realised in the ways you learn, live and love, in community with others.
And so it struck me deeply, through reflecting on how I remembered Stephanie and through reading tributes of her very full life, that though I am not sure religion was at the fore, how she had faithfully lived out Christian values including a commitment to action for peace and justice in abundance, which radiated out and touched the lives of so many.
These are words from George MacLeod’s (the founder of the Iona Community) final prayer – A Veil Thin As Gossamer –
“…we give thanks for those who have gone from the sight of earthly eyes…
…still with us in the mystery of one family in heaven and on earth
… those who bore the agony of great decisions
… those who, little recognised … bore the heat and burden of the unrecorded day and now shine as the stars forever
… if it be Thy holy will, tell them how we love them, and how we miss them, and how we long for the day when we shall meet with them again…
… there is no death and only a veil divides, thin as gossamer.”
I really appreciate this comment as it touches on some things that I have known about for years but have never made contact with; in particular Jimmy Boyle whom I met in prison when my mother visited him, and who I would love to visit in Morocco; and the Iona community that sounds like it’s worth checking out. I’m actually reading the autobiography of Sara Trevelyan who got married to Jimmy when he was still in prison. It’s a fascinating description of the falling apart of a powerful relationship and I don’t think I’ve read anything quite like it. The book is called Freedom Found and it was published by Scotland Street Press; well worth a read.