This artist’s book by Andrew Dodds, I, Sparkie, represents a rich and unusual archive relating to the life of a real budgerigar, Sparkie Williams, who was raised and trained in Newcastle, England by Mrs. Mattie Williams. Between 1954 and 1958, Sparkie came to be recognized as the world’s most famous talking animal. His vocabulary included over 500 words; he won awards and a place in the Guinness Book of Records; his voice was used on pop records and birdseed adverts; his dialect was distinctly Geordie; and his taxidermed remains have their own strange history of display.

This publication opens with an extensive interview with Andrew Dodds; features a previously unpublished extract from the typescript biography of Sparkie written by Mattie; includes two invited analyses of the ‘Sparkie phenomena’ by esteemed academics Prof. John Mullarkey and Prof. Robert Williams.

An exclusive CD of Sparkie learning to speak (transferred from reel-to-reel and abridged by the artist) accompanies this book.