In 2018, Art UK asked 'Where are the statues of Edinburgh's famous women?' Edinburgh is the first UNESCO City of Literature, boasting an eclectic range of striking monuments dedicated to Scottish male writers, including the Scott Monument (1846), a 60 metre Gothic spire carved in honour of the author Sir Walter Scott, and two prominent statues dedicated to our National Bard, Robert Burns.

But where were the monuments of Scotland's most important women writers? Back in 2018, we suggested that Dame Muriel Spark, the Edinburgh-born author of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, would be an excellent place to start.

Fast forward to 2026: there are still more public statues of named animals than of women in the centre of Edinburgh, but a monument dedicated to the extraordinary life and work of Spark is thankfully in development. Initiated by the Spirit of Spark open competition, the monument will take pride of place in East Princes Street Gardens – a site that has never before had a permanent memorial dedicated to a woman.

Through the Spirit of Spark competition, one artist will be chosen to design and execute the monument. The Scottish poet, playwright and writer Jackie Kay, as well as Penelope Jardine, a sculptor and Spark's long-term companion, are two of the panellists tasked with selecting the Spirit of Spark winner.

Louise Gibson, Tania Kovats, Jacqueline Donachie and Laura Ford

From 54 applications, four notable UK-based artists were shortlisted for the sculptural commission: Jacqueline Donachie, Laura Ford, Louise Gibson and Tania Kovats. In preparation for their final proposals, the shortlisted artists saw a curated selection of Spark's extensive archive at the National Library of Scotland. Together, the artists gained further insight into Spark's meticulous writing process and cataloguing – she kept an astonishing volume and range of written fragments, from hairdresser receipts to correspondence with Evelyn Waugh.

Commissioners of the Spirit of Spark competition have observed that the writer was 'chameleonic' in both appearance and character, underscoring the challenges involved in creating a figurative representation of her. In the words of Penelope Jardine, the artists should aim to create a monument that 'renders [Spark's] spirit'. Before the winner is announced, we caught up with all four artists to discuss their visions for the monument.

'My work is minimal. There are no bells and whistles', says the Glasgow-based artist Jacqueline Donachie. The artist connects this to one of Spark's most famous quotes, from her 1981 novel Loitering with Intent: 'I've come to learn for myself how little one needs, in the art of writing, to convey the lot, and how a lot of words, on the other hand, can convey so little'.

'I start my sculptures with a notion of how I want people to interact with them', expands Donachie. While her previous sculptures invite onlookers to stretch across them or even dance on their surfaces, this monument would be a space for the public to rest, read and watch the world go by.

As Donachie notes, Spark's fiction exhibits a preoccupation with espionage, eavesdropping and state secrecy; the author spent much of her time gathering information for her art by observing passersby in parks and cemeteries. The curved terrazzo structure, titled Spark Steps, would feature nooks ergonomically designed for women – a subtle confrontation with the lack of female representation in Edinburgh's public art.

If successful, Donachie's monument would not be her first intervention in Princes Street Gardens. Commissioned by Edinburgh Art Festival in 2014, Donachie created Mary and Elizabeth, a two-part sculpture about the fraught relationship between Mary, Queen of Scots and Elizabeth I, Queen of England.

'I am a figurative artist, but I'm not a straight figurative artist', says the sculptor Laura Ford, who was born in Wales to a fairground family. If Ford's proposal is successful, the Spirit of Spark monument will be her second permanent sculpture in Scotland. Weeping Girls, an eerie series of five faceless girls, can be found in the woods of Jupiter Artland, a sculpture park near Edinburgh.

Ford is eager to take on the challenge of creating a figurative sculpture, claiming: 'There is a real push to create memorials about women artists. I think for this one, you should see a woman.' With a smile, she clarifies that it won't be like 'the boring old statues of men that are everywhere'. Her humour during the interview is unsurprising, given that her sculptures convey an intriguing interplay between dark comedy and whimsy.

To embody Spark's eccentric character, Ford has been dressing up as Spark. 'I quite like the idea of her being a cat lady, and it being a positive thing. I've been playing with all sorts of tropes of what makes a [so-called] difficult woman'. The artist is aiming to create a bronze sculpture of Spark sitting on archival box files, surrounded by books and cats. While Ford often omits eyes from her figures, Spark would peer towards her onlookers, with her glasses on the tip of her nose.

Louise Gibson, by contrast, hopes to create an abstract sculpture from an amalgam of found materials. The Scottish sculptor predominantly works with materials sourced from metal recycling yards and textile recycling companies.

Gibson doesn't work with bronze, instead opting for resin to bind her found materials: 'When you sculpt resin casts, you distort what's inside. You only see flickers and flashes [of the objects].'

Her most recent exhibition, 'Beachheads' (2025), transformed the 'detritus of late capitalism' into towering abstract forms; car locks and radiator valves served as faint reminders of the original objects.

Gibson is a graduate of Edinburgh College of Art who 'grew up in the same area that Muriel was from, be it decades apart'. 'Edinburgh is so prevalent in [Spark's work], the monument has to be rooted here', she argues. With Arthur's Seat and the Castle atop two extinct volcanoes, Gibson wants her monument to reflect Edinburgh's striking geography.

For the monument, she has sought permission from Historic Environment Scotland to use a piece of fallen rock from the Castle, as well as Jardine's blessing to cast items from Spark's treasured wardrobe.

Throughout the creative process, Gibson has been guided by Spark's autobiographical essay 'What Images Return', which offers reflections on the writer's Edinburgh upbringing and conversion to Catholicism. Gibson's monument would be named after the essay, and its title would be written in Jardine's script.

'With ARCHIVE, I'm responding to the vastness of [Spark's] obsessive personal archive as a sculptor', says Tania Kovats, observing that Spark's files take up 'metres upon metres' of the National Library of Scotland's stores.

In Kovats' mind, the rows of box files resemble the silhouette of Edinburgh's dramatic Old Town skyline, dotted with medieval and neoclassical vistas, crags and volcanic rock formations.

Kovats envisages a bronze monument that suggests a personal geology made up of stacked archival files, books and a bust of Spark, echoing the skyline, though not an exact imitation.

Like Ford, Kovats has a permanent sculpture on display at Jupiter Artland: Rivers comprises 100 specimens of water from 100 rivers around the British Isles, stored inside a boathouse. In Rivers, we see synergies between Kovat and Spark's predilection for indexical recording and archiving.

While preparing her monument proposal, Kovats has found herself 'constantly distracted' by Spark and her literary output. And yet, she feels no closer to grasping the author's essence due to her elusive nature. Her proposed monument is an attempt to capture 'the enigma of Spark, her incredible output, her commitment to her working life, and something of the place that made her'.

All four shortlisted artists share an enthusiasm for Spark's epic contribution to English literature and are motivated by the monument's potential to raise the late author's profile. It is anticipated that the monument will be installed in Princes Street Garden in autumn 2027.

Rachel Ashenden, Commissioning Editor – Scotland at Art UK

This content was supported by Creative Scotland