The University of Aberdeen’s November 2000 graduations will honour one of the North East of Scotland’s most famous sons and a best-selling Spanish writer.
Jack Webster, one of Scotland’s best known journalists, will receive the Honorary Degree of Master of the University (MUniv) at 3:00 on Friday 24 November.
Lucia Etxebarria, Novelist, Essayist and Scriptwriter, will receive the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Letters (DLitt) at 11.00 a.m. on Saturday 25 November 2000.
Jack Webster was born in 1931 at Maud, Aberdeenshire where his father was a farmer and auctioneer. After Maud School and Gordon’s College, Aberdeen, he began in journalism with the Turriff Advertiser in 1948, moving to the Press & Journal and Evening Express in Aberdeen in 1950. He was invited to join Lord Beaverbrook’s Daily Express in Glasgow in 1960 and spent the next 20 years as a feature-writer, travelling widely and interviewing some of the most significant figures of the 20th Century. He was latterly a columnist with The Herald in Glasgow and in 1996 was voted Bank of Scotland Columnist of the Year and UK Speaker of the Year. He has written 14 books, including two volumes of memoirs. He has also written and produced seven television films.
Lucia Etxebarria was born in the Basque country in 1966, but has spent most of her life in Valencia and Madrid. She first came to prominence with her biography of Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love, but shot to fame the following year, 1997, with her runaway best-selling novel Amor, curiosidad, prozac y dudas. Her reputation was consolidated the following year by her second novel, the Edinburgh-based Beatriz y los cuerpos celestes, which sold twice as many copies as her first, and won her the prestigious Nadal Prize, equivalent to the Booker Prize here.
Lucia Etxebarria has since published another novel, Nosotras que no somos como las demás and an important book of essays on women in the twenty-first century, La Eva futura. Her first book of poetry, Redención, is about to be published. Her work has been translated into over eight languages. The film version of Amor, curiosidad, prozac y dudas is presently in production and will star Guillaume Depardieu. Lucia Etxebarria has written many other film scripts. As a journalist, she is a regular contributor to the major Spanish daily, El Mundo, as well as the Sunday El Semanal. She also writes for Cosmopolitan, Elle, Leer, Cambio 16 and Dunia.
The graduation ceremonies will take place at the Mitchell Hall, Marischal College, University of Aberdeen.
Further information from:
University Press Office on telephone +44 (0)1224-273778 or email a.ramsay@admin.abdn.ac.uk.