"Apparently I taught myself to read when I was three via the labels on the Beatles 45s we had: I remember the moment of recognising the words I and Feel and Fine. It took a bit longer to work out the word Parlophone. Sister Vincent taught primary six in St Joseph's, Inverness, and was a discerning reader with very good taste,"
"plus the kind of literary moral rectitude that meant she removed Enid Blyton from the class library because she believed Blyton's books were written by a factory of writers. In 1972 she and I had a passionate argument when the class was choosing a book to be read out loud to us and I championed Charlotte's Web by EB White, with which I was in love."
"Sister Vincent put her foot down. No. Because animals speak in it, and in reality animals don't speak. I recently reread it for the first time since I was nine, and it moved me to tears. What a fine book, about all sorts of language, injustice, imaginative power and friendship versus life's tough realities. Terrific. Radiant. Humble. The book that changed me as a teenager Liz Lochhead's Memo for Spring."
Early reading began with recognising words on Beatles 45 labels and later working out the word Parlophone. A primary teacher, Sister Vincent, removed Enid Blyton from the class library and opposed reading Charlotte's Web because animals speak, yet Charlotte's Web later moved the reader to tears and was praised for its treatment of language, injustice, imagination, and friendship against life's realities. At sixteen, finding Liz Lochhead's Memo for Spring ignited excitement and hope through poems in a Scottish English close to the reader's own. Liz Lochhead expanded what felt possible. Muriel Spark and Toni Morrison continually inspire, with Morrison's oeuvre described as a sustained and courageous masterclass.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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