Joan McGavin shares a unique memory of the late poet, playwright and novelist Maureen Duffy, who once gave an all-night reading of her novel Gor Saga in Southampton.
A Memorable Night of Literature
I was saddened to read your obituary for Maureen Duffy (3 June) but also interested to discover that her early 1980s novel Gor Saga had been reissued under the title First Born in 2024.
Duffy is the only writer I have heard give an all-night reading of their novel – here in Southampton – if I remember rightly under the aegis of David Benedictus, who was a resident writer in the city in the early 1980s.
Her reading of Gor Saga that night was powerful; I remember it vividly, but even so have to admit that my eyes closed for about 10 minutes around four o’clock in the morning, and fluttered a bit thereafter. I seem to recall arriving home around half past six. An experience everyone should have once – but probably once only.
Joan McGavin, Southampton
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