Alasdair Gray

Alasdair Gray (born 28 December 1934) is a Scottish writer and artist. His
Alasdair Gray
acclaimed first novel,Lanark (1981), written over almost 30 years, was described by
The Guardian as "one of the landmarks of 20th-century fiction."[1] Poor Things
(1992) won him a Whitbread Novel Award[2] and Guardian Fiction Prize.[3] He calls
himself a civic nationalist[4] and a republican. His works combine realism, fantasy,
and science fiction, plus clever use of typography and his own illustrations. He has
also written in support of socialism and Scottish independence and on the history of
English literature. He has been seen as "a creative polymath with an integrated
politico-philosophic vision",[5] and "perhaps the greatest living [writer] in this
archipelago today",[6] and by himself as "a fat, spectacled, balding, increasingly old
Glasgow pedestrian".[7] Born Alasdair Gray
28 December 1934
Glasgow, Scotland
Occupation
Contents Novelist, artist,
playwright, academic,
Life teacher, poet,
Artistic works muralist, illustrator
Literary works Nationality Scottish
Novels Genre Science fiction,
Short stories dystopianism,
Poetry surrealism, realism
Translations
Literary Postmodern literature
Dramatic works (incomplete) movement
Theatre Notable Lanark: A Life in Four
Television works Books
Radio 1982, Janine
As illustrator Poor Things
Non-fiction The Book of Prefaces
Other appearances
Music
Film
Anthologies
Books about Gray
Academic
Biographical
References
External links

Life
Gray was born in Riddrie, east Glasgow. His father had been wounded in the First World War and worked at the time in a factory,
while his mother worked in a shop. During the Second World War, Gray was evacuated to Perthshire and then Lanarkshire,
experiences which he drew on in his later fiction. The family lived on a council estate, and Gray received his education from a
combination of state education, (at Whitehill Secondary School), public libraries, and the BBC: "the kind of education British
governments now consider useless, especially for British working class children", as
he later commented. He studied at Glasgow School of Art from 1952 to 1957, and
taught there from 1958 to 1962. It was as a student that he first began what would
become the novel Lanark.

After his graduation, Gray worked as a scene and portrait painter, as well as an
independent artist and writer. His first plays were broadcast on radio and television
in 1968. Between 1972 and 1974, he participated in a writing group organised by
Philip Hobsbaum, which also included James Kelman, Liz Lochhead, Tom Leonard,
Aonghas MacNeacail and Jeff Torrington. From 1977 to 1979, he was Writer-in-
Residence at the University of Glasgow. In 2001, he became, with Tom Leonard and
James Kelman, joint Professor of the Creative Writing programme at Glasgow and
Strathclyde Universities.

Gray illustrates his books himself, and has produced many murals as well as
paintings. One of his longest-lasting murals can be seen in the Ubiquitous Chip
restaurant[8] in the West End of Glasgow, and more recently in the Hillhead subway
Alasdair Gray photographed byAlan
station.[8]
Dimmick in 1985
In 2001, he stood as the candidate of the Glasgow University Scottish Nationalist
Association for the post of Rector of the University of Glasgow, but was narrowly
defeated by Greg Hemphill. Formerly a supporter of the Scottish National Party and the Scottish Socialist Party, at the 2010 general
election he supported his local Scottish Liberal Democratcandidate.[9] He describes himself as a civic nationalist, stating in his 1992
book Why Scots Should Rule Scotland: "The title of this book may sound threatening to those who live in Scotland but were born and
educated elsewhere, so I had better explain that by Scots I mean everyone in Scotland who is eligible to vote".[10] Following an essay
written in 2012, in which he characterised English people working in Scotland as either long-term "settlers" or short-term "colonists"
Gray – though writing with approval about the former[4] – found himself being accused of being anti-English, and a critic of English
immigration into Scotland. He disputes this.[11] Gray's full essay was published on the Word Power Books website[12] Gray
[4]
responded to criticism of his essay by stating that "...many of [his] best friends are English".

He has been married twice: first to Inge Sorenson (1961–1970) and in 1991 to Morag McAlpine. McAlpine died after a short illness
in May 2014.[13] He has one son, Andrew, born in 1964. He still lives in theWest End of Glasgow.

His ceiling mural for The Auditorium of the Oran Mor arts & entertainment venue on Byres Road in Glasgow is one of the largest
works of art in Scotland.[14]

Gray frequently uses the quotation, "Work as if you live in the early days of a better nation," which is engraved in the
Canongate Wall
of the Scottish Parliament building. He attributes the quote to Canadian authorDennis Lee.[15]

Gray painted the artwork for Scottish bandDe Rosa's second studio album,Prevention, which was released in 2009.

.[16]
In June 2015 he was seriously injured in a fall at his home in Glasgow

Artistic works
Gray has been prolific as an artist since graduating from the Glasgow School of Art in 1957. Trained in mural painting, his Glasgow
murals include those in theHillhead subway stationand in the Oran Mor, an arts and music venue. His paintings, drawings and prints
are well known and widely collected. His works are often sold in the art market, for example by the London auction houses.[17]
Examples of his paintings and prints are currently housed in various public collections, including the Victoria and Albert Museum,
the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, the National
Library of Scotland, the Hunterian Museum, and the Arts Council of England collection. His art was celebrated in 2014-2015 with a
major retrospective exhibition at Glasgow's Kelvingrove[18] Examples of his art are also held in the privately owned The Viktor
Wynd Museum of Curiosities, Fine Art & NaturalHistory.[19]

In 1977-1978 Gray worked for the People's Palace in Glasgow, a local history museum, as the city's "artist recorder". The job was
make-work employment funded through a job creation scheme set up by the Labour government of the day. While it lasted, Gray
produced hundreds of drawings of the city, including portraits of politicians, people in the arts, members of the general public and
workplaces with workers. These are now in the collection of Glasgow's Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum,[20] and formed a
major component of the works on display at the retrospective exhibition.

In 2017 Gray's first solo art exhibition in London was staged.[21] The exhibition ran from 27 July to 12 August at the Coningsby
Gallery, in Fitzrovia;[22] and afterwards was moved to the Leyden Gallery inSpitalfields, from 14 August to 9 September.[23]

Mural in the Oran Mor Auditorium in May Hooper. Ink on brown paper, by
Glasgow, painted about 2004 Alasdair Gray (1984)

Bill Skinner, by Alasdair Gray. Begun in

1968 as an ink on paper drawing, it
was completed in 2017 with acrylic
paint

Literary works

Novels Short stories

 Lanark (1981) ISBN 978-1-84767-374-9
1982, Janine (1984) ISBN 978-1-84767-444-
9 Lean Tales (1985) (with James Kelman and
The Fall of Kelvin Walker (1985)
Something Leather (1990)
ISBN 9780330319447
McGrotty and Ludmilla (1990)
ISBN 9781872536002
Poor Things (1992) ISBN 9781564783073
A History Maker (1994)
Mavis Belfrage (1996) ISBN 9780747530893
Old Men In Love (2007)
ISBN 9780747593539
Dramatic works (incomplete)
Theatre
Dialogue - A Duet (1971)
The Loss of the Golden Silence
Homeward Bound: A Trio for Female
Chauvinists (1973)
Sam Lang and Miss Watson: A One Act
Sexual Comedy In Four Scenes (1973)
McGrotty and Ludmilla (1986)
Working Legs: A Play for Those Without
Them (1997)
Goodbye Jimmy (2006)
Fleck (2008)
A Gray Play Book (2009)
Unlikely Stories, Mostly 26 September 1984;
Canongate Books ISBN 978-1-84767-502-6
Agnes Owens); Vintage, 1995,
ISBN 9780099585411
Ten Tales Tall & True (1993)
ISBN 9780151000906
The Ends of Our Tethers: 13 Sorry Stories.
Canongate Books. January 2005. ISBN 978-
1-84195-626-8.
Every Short Story by Alasdair Gray 1951-
2012. Canongate Books. 15 November
2012. ISBN 978-0-85786-562-5.
Poetry
Old Negatives (1989) ISBN 9780224026567
Sixteen Occasional Poems (2000)
Collected Verse (2010)
ISBN 9781906120535
Translations
Hell: Dante's Divine Trilogy Part One
Decorated and Englished in Prosaic Verse
(2018) ISBN 978-1-78689-253-9
Television
Dialogue - A Duet (1972)
Martin (1972)
Today and Yesterday (1975)[24]
Radio
Dialogue: A Duet (1969)
The Loss of the Golden Silence
As illustrator
Songs of Scotland (Author, Wilma Patterson)
(1996)
Non-fiction
Why Scots Should Rule Scotland (1992;
revised 1997)
The Book of Prefaces (ed.) (2000)
How We Should Rule Ourselves (2005)
Alasdair Gray (22 October 2010). A Life In
Pictures. Canongate Books. ISBN 978-1-
84767-962-8.
Of Me & Others: An Autobiography (Cargo
Publishing.) (2014)

Other appearances

Music
Cindytalk Wappinschaw (Touched Recordings, 1994) - Gray appearson "Wheesht" reading from Book 2 of
Lanark[25]
Future Pilot AKA Secrets From The Clockhouse(Creeping Bent, 2006) – Gray performs on "Equations of Love" [26]

LAN Formatique The Sadness of Distances(Signifier, 2012) - Gray appears on "Mind theGap" (reading from the
poem of the same name), "1st of March, 1990" (reading from the poem of the same name), and "The Stars Are But
Thistles" (reading from the poem "Dictators").[27]

Film
.[28]
Under the Helmet. A 1964 BBC film about the career of Alasdair Gray

Anthologies
(Contributor) Pax Edina: The One O' Clock Gun Anthology(Edinburgh, 2010)[29]
(Contributor) "Elsewhere: Here" (Cargo Publishing/McSweeney's, 2012)
(Contributor) Beacons: Stories for Our Not So Distant Future(Oneworld Publications, 2013)

Books about Gray

Academic
The Arts of Alasdair Gray, Robert Crawford and Thom Nairn (1991)
Alasdair Gray, Stephen Bernstein (1999)
Alasdair Gray: A Unique Scottish Magus, Joy Hendry (ed.) (2000)
Alasdair Gray: Critical Appreciations and a Bibliography
, Phil Moores (ed.) (2001; includes contributions by Gray
himself.)
La Scozia di Alasdair Gray, Aurelio Pasini, Mobydick (2001)
Postmodern Strategies in Alasdair Gray's Lanark: A Life in Four Books , Luis de Juan (2003)
Shades of Gray: Science Fiction, History and the Problem of Postmodernism in the Work of Alasdair Gray , Dietmar
Böhnke (2004)
Alasdair Gray: The Fiction of Communion, Gavin Miller (2005)
Voices from Modern Scotland:Janice Galloway, Alasdair Gray, Bernard Sellin (coord.) (2007)
Alasdair Gray, le faiseur d'Ecosse, Camille Manfredi, Presses Universitaires de Rennes (2012)
 Alasdair Gray: Ink for Worlds, Camille Manfredi (ed.) (2014; includes contributions by Gray himself.)

Biographical
Alasdair Gray: A Secretary's Biography, Rodge Glass (2008)
A Life in Pictures (2010) (illustrated autobiography)

References
1. "Alasdair Gray" (http://books.guardian.co.uk/authors/author/0,,-209,00.html)
. The Guardian. London. 22 July 2008.
Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20080511172422/http://books.guardian.co.uk/authors/author/0,,-209,00.html)
from the original on 11 May 2008.
2. "Alasdair Gray" (https://web.archive.org/web/20060822143822/http://www .nls.uk/writestuff/heads/wee-gray.html).
Nls.uk. Archived from the original (http://www.nls.uk/writestuff/heads/wee-gray.html) on 22 August 2006. Retrieved
21 May 2014.
3. "Archived copy" (https://web.archive.org/web/20070208023427/http://facstaf f.unca.edu/moseley/guardian.html).
Archived from the original (http://facstaff.unca.edu/moseley/guardian.html) on 8 February 2007. Retrieved
20 January 2009.
4. Peterkin, Tom (16 December 2012)."Alasdair Gray attacks English for "colonising" arts"(http://www.scotsman.com/li
festyle/books/features/alasdair-gray-attacks-english-for-colonising-arts-1-2694368)
. The Scotsman. Archived (https://
web.archive.org/web/20121219021036/http://www .scotsman.com/lifestyle/books/features/alasdair-gray-attacks-engli
sh-for-colonising-arts-1-2694368)from the original on 19 December 2012. Retrieved 2 January 2013.
5. Moores ed. Alasdair Gray: Critical Appreciations and a Bibliography(2001) p. 4.
6. Chris M (12 January 2006)."Blog Archive » Alisdair Gray: An Introduction"(http://will-self.com/2006/01/12/alisdair-gr
ay-an-introduction-2/). will-self.com. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20140521121438/http://will-self.com/200
6/01/12/alisdair-gray-an-introduction-2/)from the original on 21 May 2014. Retrieved 21 May 2014.
7. Gray, The Ends of Our Tethers, dust jacket.
8. Fleischer, Evan (26 August 2015)."How Alasdair Gray Reimagined Glasgow"(https://www.newyorker.com/books/pa
ge-turner/how-alasdair-gray-reimagined-glasgow). Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20170920092655/https://w
ww.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/how-alasdair-gray-reimagined-glasgow)from the original on 20 September
2017 – via www.newyorker.com.
9. Currie, Brian; Settle, Michael (21 April 2010)."LibDems enjoy Clegg bounce in Scotland at expense of SNP"(http://w
ww.heraldscotland.com/news/politics/libdems-enjoy-clegg-bounce-in-scotland-at-expense-of-snp-1.1022110) . The
Herald. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20100426002117/http://www .heraldscotland.com/news/politics/libdem
s-enjoy-clegg-bounce-in-scotland-at-expense-of-snp-1.1022110)from the original on 26 April 2010. Retrieved
25 October 2010.
10. Williamson, Kevin (2009). "Language and culture in a rediscovered Scotland".In Perryman, Mark. Breaking up
Britain: Four Nations after a Union(http://www.lwbooks.co.uk/books/archive/Breaking_up_Britain_Williamson.pdf)
(PDF). London: Lawrence & Wishart. pp. 53–67.ISBN 978-1-905007-96-7. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20
110221174201/http://www.lwbooks.co.uk/books/archive/Breaking_up_Britain_Williamson.pdf)(PDF) from the original
on 21 February 2011.
11. Miller, Phil (18 December 2012)."Author Gray hits back at anti-English claims"(http://www.heraldscotland.com/new
s/home-news/author-gray-hits-back-at-anti-english-claims.19702425) . The Herald. Archived (https://web.archive.org/
web/20121221123603/http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/author-gray-hits-back-at-anti-english-claims.
19702425) from the original on 21 December 2012. Retrieved 21 April 2013.
12. "Word Power Books | Settlers and Colonistsby Alasdair Gray" (https://web.archive.org/web/20140521124933/http://
www.word-power.co.uk/viewPlatform.php?id=610). Word-power.co.uk. 20 December 2012. Archived fromthe original
(http://www.word-power.co.uk/viewPlatform.php?id=610)on 21 May 2014. Retrieved 21 May 2014.
13. "Private funeral for wife of author Gray"(http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/private-funeral-for-wife-of-
author-gray.24278696). Herald Scotland. 21 May 2014. Retrieved 21 May 2014.
14. Andrew Davies-Cole (22 October 2009)."Gray's anatomy of the bigger picture"(http://www.heraldscotland.com/arts-
ents/book-features/gray-s-anatomy-of-the-bigger-picture-1.927754). Herald Scotland. Archived (https://web.archive.o
rg/web/20140620143157/http://www.heraldscotland.com/arts-ents/book-features/gray-s-anatomy-of-the-bigger-pictur
e-1.927754) from the original on 20 June 2014. Retrieved 21 May 2014.
15. Gray, Alasdair (5 May 2007)."Work as if you live in the early days of a better nation" (http://www.heraldscotland.com/
work-as-if-you-live-in-the-early-days-of-a-better-nation-1.827519)
. The Herald. Archived (https://web.archive.org/we
b/20140620213319/http://www.heraldscotland.com/work-as-if-you-live-in-the-early-days-of-a-better-nation-1.827519)
from the original on 20 June 2014. Retrieved 21 May 2014.
16. Association, Press (18 June 2015)."Alasdair Gray seriously injured in fall"(https://www.theguardian.com/books/201
5/jun/18/alasdair-gray-seriously-injured-after-fall)
. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20170311211407/https://ww
w.theguardian.com/books/2015/jun/18/alasdair-gray-seriously-injured-after-fall)from the original on 11 March 2017–
via www.theguardian.com.
17. "Archived copy" (http://www.sothebys.com/en/search-results.html?keyword=alasdair+gray). Archived (https://web.arc
hive.org/web/20170729091305/http://www .sothebys.com/en/search-results.html?keyword=alasdair+gray)from the
original on 29 July 2017. Retrieved 6 July 2017. Sotheby's auction sales results for Alasdair Gray
, retrieved on 27
November 2017.
18. "Kelvingrove celebrates Alasdair Gray"(https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-29566631). 10
October 2014. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20141111225324/http://www .bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasg
ow-west-29566631) from the original on 11 November 2014– via www.bbc.co.uk.
19. "Connoisseur of the curious"(http://www.christies.com/features/Viktor-Wynd-Connoisseur-of-the-curious-6451-1.asp
x). Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20151005031056/http://www .christies.com/features/Viktor-Wynd-Connoiss
eur-of-the-curious-6451-1.aspx)from the original on 5 October 2015. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
20. A Life in Pictures, by Alasdair Gray, pages 172–198
21. Alasdair Gray's Life in Pictures: Paintings, Drawings and Prints 1951 - 2017 (exhibition catalogue, by Kevin Brown
and Alasdair Gray, available in UK deposit libraries).
22. Bookshop, London Review. "Why don't you people buy more Alasdair Gray? - Blog"(https://www.londonreviewbooks
hop.co.uk/blog/2017/8/why-dont-you-people-buy-more-alasdair-gray)
. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/201712
01035219/https://www.londonreviewbookshop.co.uk/blog/2017/8/why-dont-you-people-buy-more-alasdair-gray)from
the original on 1 December 2017.
23. "Alasdair Gray set for first London exhibition"(https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-scotland-40740133/artist-alasdair-g
ray-set-for-first-london-exhibition). BBC News. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20180103035335/http://www .b
bc.co.uk/news/av/uk-scotland-40740133/artist-alasdair-gray-set-for-first-london-exhibition)
from the original on 3
January 2018.
24. "Alasdair (James) Gray Biography"(http://biography.jrank.org/pages/4375/Gray-Alasdair-James.html).
biography.jrank.org. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20140819143458/http://biography
.jrank.org/pages/4375/G
ray-Alasdair-James.html)from the original on 19 August 2014. Retrieved 13 September 2014.
25. "Cindytalk - Wappinschaw" (http://www.discogs.com/Cindytalk-Wappinschaw/release/230763). Discogs. Archived (ht
tps://web.archive.org/web/20160310195950/https://www .discogs.com/Cindytalk-Wappinschaw/release/230763)from
the original on 10 March 2016. Retrieved 27 October 2015.
26. "Future Pilot A. K. A. - Secrets From The Clockhouse"(http://www.discogs.com/Future-Pilot-AKA-Secrets-From-The-
Clockhouse/release/1941354). Discogs. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20160310185012/https://www .discog
s.com/Future-Pilot-AKA-Secrets-From-The-Clockhouse/release/1941354) from the original on 10 March 2016.
Retrieved 27 October 2015.
27. "LAN Formatique - The Sadness Of Distances"(http://www.discogs.com/LAN-Formatique-The-Sadness-Of-Distance
s/release/4051320). Discogs. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20160310223448/https://www
.discogs.com/LAN
-Formatique-The-Sadness-Of-Distances/release/4051320)from the original on 10 March 2016. Retrieved
27 October 2015.
28. "Under the Helmet" (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4N9Drwmcht5lN3GV2NlhgK1/alasdair-gray-at-80-un
der-the-helmet). BBC. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20150122041556/http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/art
icles/4N9Drwmcht5lN3GV2NlhgK1/alasdair-gray-at-80-under-the-helmet) from the original on 22 January 2015.
Retrieved 25 November 2017.
29. "Leamington Books" (https://web.archive.org/web/20130729020420/http://www .leamingtonbooks.co.uk/oocg).
Leamington Books. Archived fromthe original (http://www.leamingtonbooks.co.uk/oocg)on 29 July 2013. Retrieved
21 May 2014.
External links
Official website
Alasdair Gray at British Council: Literature
Alasdair Gray at Curlie
Alasdair Gray at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
Alasdair Gray at Edinburgh Central Library(video in several parts)
Documentary: Unlikely Murals, Mostly, 2002 [1] (video in several parts)
Guardian Video Interview with Charlotte Higgins, 2011[2]

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