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Alasdair Gray

Biography

Alasdair Gray was born in Riddrie, Glasgow in 1934. His father worked in factory making cardboard boxes. During World War II, he, his mother and sister were moved to other parts of the country, before the whole family moved to Yorkshire where his father ran a hostel for munitions workers. After the war they returned to Glasgow but his father was unable to find skilled work. Because of his asthma, Gray did not take part in physical activities and spent his time reading and drawing. He attended Glasgow School of Art and then went to teacher training college. At this time he also became involved in nuclear disarmament activities. He started working as a teacher but then became a scene painter. He did get some recognition after a BBC documentary on him but still struggled financially till Lanark was accepted in 1978 and published three years later. The book had considerable success and though 1982, Janine also had success and is his own favourite of his books, he has not repeated the success of his first novel. He died in 2019.

Books about Alasdair Gray

Rodge Glass: Alasdair Gray: A Secretary’s Biography

Other links

Official website
His blog
Alasdair Gray
Alasdair Gray
Alasdair Gray
Alasdair Gray (1934-)
Alasdair Gray (1934-)
Lanark 1982 (an unofficial Alasdair Gray website)
Alasdair Gray: one of literature’s unsung heroes
Alasdair Gray pleads for help to find his long-lost artworks
Gray Day
Interview
Big Pockets With Buttoned Flaps (story by Gray)
Obituary

Bibliography

1979 The Comedy of the White Dog (stories)
1981 Lanark (novel)
1983 Unlikely Stories, Mostly (stories)
1984 1982, Janine (novel)
1985 Lean Tales (with James Kelman and Agnes Owens) (stories)
1985 The Fall of Kelvin Walker (novel)
1988 Saltire Self-Portrait 4
1989 Old Negatives (poetry)
1990 McGrotty and Ludmilla (novel)
1990 Something Leather (novel)
1992 Poor Things (novel)
1992 Why Scots Should Rule Scotland
1993 Ten Tales Tall & True (stories)
1995 Five Letters From An Eastern Empire (stories)
1994 A History Maker (novel)
1996 Mavis Belfrage (stories)
1997 Working Legs: A Play for People without Them (drama)
2000 Sixteen Occasional Poems (poetry)
2001 A Short Survey of Classic Scottish Writing
2003 The Ends of Our Tethers (stories)
2005 How We Should Rule Ourselves
2007 Old Men In Love (novel)
2010 A Life in Pictures
2010 Collected Verse
2012 Every Short Story
2013 Of Me & Others: An Autobiography
2018 Guts Minced with Oatmeal : Ten Late Poems
2019 Purgatory (literature)
2019 Late Verses
2021 McGrotty and Ludmilla (novel)