The Muriel Spark International Fellowship, named after one of Scotland’s greatest novelists, hosts a one-month visit to Scotland by a leading world writer every two years, providing them with the opportunity to spend time concentrating on work while also taking part in a number of light public duties, including presenting masterclasses, readings and lectures.

The new Fellowship was announced in August 2004 in celebration of Scottish writing’s burgeoning international profile, which was symbolised later that year in Edinburgh’s designation by UNESCO as the world’s first City of Literature. It is hoped that the Fellowship will extend and enrich Scotland’s tradition of international literary exchange.

Canadian born Atwood has written more than thirty internationally acclaimed works of fiction, poetry, and critical essays, including The Blind Assassin, which won the 2000 Booker Prize for Fiction. Other works include the Booker Prize shortlisted novels The Handmaid’s Tale, Cat’s Eyes, Alias Grace, and Oryx and Crake, which was also shortlisted for the 2004 Orange Prize for Fiction. In 2005 Margaret also received the Edinburgh International Book Festival Enlightenment Award. Atwood’s latest book The Tent, a collection of short stories, was published earlier this month.

During the residency, which will take place in September, Margaret will be based at the artists’ residency centre, Cove Park in Argyll and Bute, where she will have the opportunity to spend time in seclusion to research and write, before moving on to central Edinburgh. She will also be involved in a number of events and activities during the month-long residency, including a masterclass session for creative writing students and a public reading in Edinburgh, providing Scottish writers with the opportunity to exchange ideas and learn from a major international author.

Commenting on her selection as the inaugural International Fellow Margaret Atwood said: ‘I am more than delighted to have been asked to be the first Muriel Spark International Literary Fellow. I have long been an admirer of Muriel Spark's books and it is fitting that a Fellowship be named for her, in her honour, but also as a tribute to Scotland's long and very distinguished literary history.’

Gavin Wallace, Head of Literature at the Scottish Arts Council said: ‘We’re absolutely thrilled and very honoured that Margaret Atwood has accepted our invitation. Internationalism has always been close to the heart of our literary culture, and it’s one of the biggest driving strengths of our national literary life at the moment. I’ve no doubt the literary and the wider community of Scotland will benefit immeasurably from Margaret’s presence’.