A special book has been produced to remember a much-loved Castle Douglas writer.
Author, poet and former News journalist Mary Smith passed away on Christmas morning after being diagnosed with cancer in 2020.
Dozens of writers around Dumfries and Galloway whose work she championed and encouraged have now joined forced to put together When the Spring Bulbs Flower, which will feature some of Mary’s writing and poems as well as short pieces celebrating her life.
It has been inspired by Mary’s online cancer diary and will be launched with a special celebration at Dumfries Museum on Saturday. Any profits from sales will go to Maggie’s Cancer Centres, a charity which helped Mary during her treatment.
One of the writers who helped put the book together, Sally Hinchcliffe, said: “We’ve been blown away by the response to our call for pieces for the book – we got pieces from across the country, many from writers Mary has helped and supported over the years.
“But perhaps we shouldn’t have been surprised as Mary was so generous with her time and energy in supporting the writing careers of others, sometimes at the expense of her own. We’ve also been able to weave in some of Mary’s own writing, especially from her no-holds-barred cancer diaries which were frank, funny and fearless to the end and we look forward to raising a glass of wine to Mary on Saturday night as we remember her through her words and ours.”
Mary was born in Islay and grew up in Castle Douglas, working for the News between 2007 and 2009 before moving on to work for Dumfries and Galloway Life.
She was also a freelance contributor to the magazine as well as the News and the Dumfries and Galloway Standard.
She worked for Oxfam for 10 years before moving to Pakistan to work with the Marie Adelaide Leprosy Centre in 1986. She met future husband Jon there and her son David was born in Pakistan before the family moved to Afghanistan to set up leprosy centres, returning to Scotland in 1996.
Mary was a successful author and wrote extensively of her experiences in Afghanistan, including a novel called No More Mulberries and, the non-fiction book Drunk Chickens and Burnt Macaroni and a poetry collection called Thousands Pass Here Every Day. She also collaborated with photographers Allan Devlin and Keith Kirk on local history books, including Castle Douglas Through Time and Secret Dumfries.
Mary was involved in countless local literary initiatives, from restarting the Dumfries Writers’ Group to working with budding writers and groups across Dumfries and Galloway on workshops, publications, collaborations and events.
She latterly found a wider audience through her blogs, My Dad’s a Goldfish – about caring for her father through his dementia – and her personal blog, Mary Smith’s Place which combined her memories of her adventures in Afghanistan with updates on her treatment with cancer.
When the Spring Bulbs Flower was printed and illustrated by Hugh Bryden and edited by Sally Hinchcliffe and JoAnne McKay, with contributions from writers and poets from across the region including Donald Adamson, Margaret Elphinstone, Vivien Jones, Hugh McMillan, Stuart Paterson and Tom Pow.
