Lot 170
Edinburgh International Writers' Conference, 1962
A transcript of the conference
Rare Books, Manuscripts, Maps & Photographs
Auction: Day One: 24 February 2021 | From 10:00
Description
title leaf and 138 typed leaves in sections (23 for Monday, 28 for Tuesday, 25 for Wednesday, 27 for Thursday & 35 for Friday), secured together with a treasury tag
Footnote
Note: The Edinburgh International Writers' Conference became famous - or perhaps infamous - for some of the discussions and gambits which arose from several of the speakers. The line-up included Norman Mailer, Henry Miller, Mary McCarthy, and William Burroughs, Scots Hugh MacDiarmid, Muriel Spark, Edwin Morgan and Alexander Trocchi, English Lawrence Durrell and Stephen Spender, Erich Fried, and Khushwant Singh. The organiser, publisher John Calder, told the press: "we are imposing no prohibitions on the free expression of opinion, however controversial or unusual" and the conference correspondingly involved frank discussions surrounding sexuality, politics, Scottish national identity and drug-taking. Transcripts of the conference are surprisingly unusual to find.