Muriel Spark was born in Edinburgh in 1918. A poet, essayist, biographer and novelist, she won much international praise, including being twice shortlisted for the Booker Prize. The Times placed her eighth in its list of the Fifty Greatest British Writers Since 1945. She died in Tuscany in 2006.James Campbell was born in Glasgow in 1951 and educated at the University of Edinburgh. He is a former editor of the New Edinburgh Review, writes for the Times Literary Supplement and the Guardian, and is the author of several books including This Is the Beat Generation and Syncopation.