Mystery book sculptor returns for Book Week Scotland

by: Alison Flood

Mystery book sculptor's homage to Whisky Galore. Photograph: Chris Scott

Scotland's mystery book sculptor has been up to her old tricks again this week, leaving a series of literary-themed sculptures in secret locations.


The sculptor – all that has been revealed about her is that she is female, and that she loves books – made her first startling appearances last year, leaving intricate paper models of a tiny Ian Rankin in a cinema, a model of a gramophone and a coffin and a detailed paper tree around Edinburgh. Now, to mark Book Week Scotland this week, she has been enticed into making a comeback, with five new sculptures inspired by classic Scottish stories hidden around the country.

Each day this week, a clue has been released that leads to one of the sculptures. On Monday, Emma Lister, a teaching assistant at Glasgow University, found a piece inspired by Alasdair Gray's Lanark at Glasgow School of Art, and on Tuesday Stranraer student Jemma Dornan tracked down a sculpture based on Robert Burns's poem Tam o'Shanter in the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum in Alloway. Wednesday saw a class of pupils from Eriskay Primary School find the third sculpture, inspired by Compton Mackenzie's classic novel Whisky Galore, at the island's Am Politician Lounge Bar, and on Thursday Stephen Ryan found a Peter Pan book sculpture in the birthplace of his creator JM Barrie, Kirriemuir. The final sculpture will be unveiled on Friday afternoon, with each successful detective winning their own sculpture to take home.

"I am so excited, as I am very interested in the book as an art object," said Lister. "I only discovered the competition [on Monday] and decided to take a chance. I am a big Alasdair Gray fan – he's my favourite author and Lanark is one of my favourite books. I'll treasure my sculpture."

With more than 350 free events from authors including Iain Banks, Val McDermid, Christopher Brookmyre and Debi Gliori, Book Week Scotland is the country's first national celebration of reading. "Book Week Scotland is an ideal time to celebrate these unique pieces of art, inspired as they are by a love of books, reading, and libraries," said Scottish Book Trust chief executive Marc Lambert. "We are delighted that the artist has agreed to come out of retirement, if not hiding, to give booklovers across Scotland a chance to own one of these amazing homages to literature."

We will publish a gallery of the sculptures as soon as the final one is revealed.

from: Guardian