William McIlvanney

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William McIlvanney
McIlvanney at the Edinburgh International Book Festival 2013
BornWilliam Angus McIlvanney
25 November 1936
Kilmarnock, Scotland
Dee'd5 December 2015 (aged 79)
Glesga, Scotland
EddicationGlesga Varsity
Notable warksDocherty (1975), Laidlaw (1977), Strange Loyalties (1991)
BairnsLiam McIlvanney (son)
Wabsteid
williammcilvanney.com

William McIlvanney (25 November 1936 – 5 December 2015) wis a Scots novelist, short story scriever, an makar.[1] He wis kent as Gus by friends and acquaintances.[2] McIlvanney wis a champion o gritty yet poetic leiteratur; his warks Laidlaw, The Papers of Tony Veitch, an Walking Wounded is aa weel-kent for their shawin o Glesga in the 1970s. He is regairdit as "the faither o Tartan Noir" an as Scotland's Camus.

Biography[eedit | eedit soorce]

McIlvanney wis born in Kilmarnock on 25 November 1936, the youngest o fower bairns o an umwhile miner, an went tae Kilmarnock Academy.[3] He went on tae study Inglis at Glesga University an graduatit wi ae MA in 1960.[1] McIlvanney then wirkit as ae Inglis dominie til 1975, whan he quit as assistant heiddominie at Greenwood Academy tae mak forrit wi his writin career.[1] His aulder brither wis the sports jurnalist Hugh McIlvanney.[1] His son, Liam McIlvanney, is a crime writer as weel.[4]

As weel as his leiteratur, McIlvanney wrate on a reglar basis for newspapers, an wis a writer an narrator o the BBC Scotland fitba documentary Only a Game? in 1986.[5][6]

McIlvanney haudit ontae his strang socialist views ootthrouh his life. Lik ithers fae his backgrund in Scotland, he wis strangly agin Thatcherism. Later he becam disappyntit bi the shift o Labour unner Tony Blair an bi 2014 he felt, hesitantly, that Scottish independence micht be the best poleitical solution.[7]


William McIlvanney deet on 5 December 2015 aged 79, efter a wee spell o illness.[8] On hearin o his daith, sindry public figures, siclik Nicola Sturgeon, Ian Rankin and Irvine Welsh, gied mense notin baith his inspirational writin and his likeable an gentlemanly personality.[9][10] The Telegraph's obituary wrate: "Many authors are admired. Many are respected. Few are loved as he was, for what they are as well as for what they have written."[10]

Writin[eedit | eedit soorce]

His first buik, Remedy is None, wis furthset in 1966[11] an won the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize in 1967.[12] Docherty (1975), anent ae miner that's courage an endurance is pit tae the test durin the depression, won the Whitbread Novel Award.[13]

The Big Man (1985) is the story o Dan Scoular, an unemployed man that turns tae bare-knuckle fechtin tae mak thrift. Baith nuvels hae typical McIlvanney chairacters – teucht, aft violent, men lockit in a fecht wi their ain nature an upbringin.[14] The nuvel wis turnt intae ae film in 1990 directit by David Leland, starrin Liam Neeson, an kythin Billy Connolly.[15]

His novel, The Kiln (1996) won the Saltire Society Scottish Book of the Year Award.[16]

Reviews[eedit | eedit soorce]

  • Gifford, Douglas (1976), review of Docherty, in Burnett, Ray (ed.), Calgagus No. 3, pp. 58 & 59, ISSN 0307-2029
  • Aitchison, James (1983), review of The Papers of Tony Veitch, in Lindsay, Maurice (ed.), The Scottish Review: Arts and Environment 31, August 1983, pp. 60 – 62, ISSN 0140-0894

Prizes an awairds[eedit | eedit soorce]

  • 1967 Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize for Remedy is None[12]
  • 1968 Scottish Arts Council Book Award for A Gift from Nessus
  • 1975 Scottish Arts Council Book Award for Docherty
  • 1975 Whitbread Award, for Best Novel for Docherty[17]
  • 1977 Crime Writers' Association Macallan Silver Dagger for Fiction for Laidlaw[18]
  • 1983 Crime Writers' Association Macallan Silver Dagger for Fiction for The Papers of Tony Veitch[18]
  • 1990 Glasgow Herald People's Prize for Walking Wounded[1]
  • 1990 BAFTA (screen adaptation): "Dreaming"[19]
  • 1992 Glasgow Herald People's Prize for Strange Loyalties[20]
  • 1992 Scottish Arts Council awards for Surviving the Shipwreck and Strange Loyalties[21]
  • 1996 Saltire Society Scottish Book of the Year Award for The Kiln[16]
  • 2013 Saltire Society Fletcher of Saltoun Award 2013 for "outstanding contribution to Scotland's life and culture"[22]
  • 2013 Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland Award for writing[23]
  • 2016 University of Glasgow posthumously awairdit him with an honorary doctorate.[24]

References[eedit | eedit soorce]

  1. ↑ a b c d e "Scotland's Writers - William McIlvanney". BBC Writing Scotland. Retrieved 24 Mey 2013.
  2. ↑ "William McIlvanney: not just godfather of 'Tartan Noir' but lion of literature". the Guardian. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
  3. ↑ "William McIlvanney (b.1936)". Kilmarnock Academy. Archived frae the original on 30 Januar 2023. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
  4. ↑ Guardian Staff (21 September 2018). "Liam McIlvanney wins Scottish crime fiction award named after his father". The Guardian (in Inglis). ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 8 Juin 2019.
  5. ↑ "Only a game?". British Film Institute. Archived frae the original on 13 December 2013. Retrieved 11 December 2013.
  6. ↑ "Scots author William McIlvanney dies, aged 79". www.scotsman.com. Retrieved 6 December 2015.
  7. ↑ "William McIlvanney, novelist - obituary". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 6 December 2015.
  8. ↑ "Scottish writer William McIlvanney dies aged 79". The Guardian. 5 December 2015.
  9. ↑ "Crime author William McIlvanney dies aged 79". BBC News. Retrieved 6 December 2015.
  10. ↑ a b "William McIlvanney, novelist - obituary". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 6 December 2015.
  11. ↑ Morton, Brian (27 September 1990). "Glasgow no mean Hamlet". The Times.
  12. ↑ a b Taylor, D. J. (28 Januar 1989). "Fist-fights and metaphors from Kilmarnock: D J Taylor on William McIlvaney, a Scottish storyteller launching guerrilla attacks from the front line". The Independent.
  13. ↑ Williams, John (3 September 1991). "Jack of all genres, master of one – William McIlvanney's new detective novel continues his seamless document of Scotland". The Guardian.
  14. ↑ Bailey, Hilary (5 September 1985). "A matter of manner/ Review of new fiction". The Guardian.
  15. ↑ Brown, Geoff (21 August 1990). "Youth hogs the old spotlight". The Times.
  16. ↑ a b Cochrane, Lynn (28 November 1996). "The Kiln is named book of the year". The Scotsman.Cochrane, Lynn (28 November 1996). "The Kiln is named book of the year". The Scotsman.
  17. ↑ Dening, Penelope (1 October 1996). "Honour in his own country". The Irish Times.
  18. ↑ a b "The CWA Gold Dagger". The Crime Writers' Association. Archived frae the original on 14 Januar 2012. Retrieved 12 December 2013.
  19. ↑ McGinty, Stephen (21 Mairch 2010). "Big Man hits the small screen as writer turns actor in music video". Scotland on Sunday.
  20. ↑ Linklater, John (17 December 1992). "Readers stay loyal to McIlvanney with second win in People's Prize". The Herald.
  21. ↑ Linklater, John (4 Juin 1992). "Awards and votes of confidence for authors". The Herald.
  22. ↑ "William McIlvanney to receive the Fletcher of Saltoun Award 2013". Saltire Society. Archived frae the original on 29 Januar 2019. Retrieved 30 Januar 2023.
  23. ↑ Ferguson, Brian (30 November 2013). "Rediscovered William McIlvanney picks up award". The Scotsman. Retrieved 12 December 2013.
  24. ↑ "Glasgow University to honour late author William McIlvanney with doctorate". The Courier. Dundee. 1 Apryle 2016. Retrieved 5 November 2020.

Fremmit airtins[eedit | eedit soorce]

References tae reviews o warks[eedit | eedit soorce]

  • [1] Archived 2015-12-15 at the Wayback Machine McLuckie, Craig. "Researching McIlvanney. A Critical and Bibliographic Introduction", Scottish Studies International 28 (Scottish Studies Centre of the Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz in Germersheim), 1999.
  • Newton, Ken. "William McIlvanney": Literary Encyclopedia
  • William McIlvanney at British Council: Literature
  • [2] Archived 2012-04-14 at the Wayback Machine McLuckie, Craig. "Postcolonial Resistance: Class, Gender and Race in McIlvanney's The Big Man," Revista Canaria de Estudios Ingleses (RCEI) 2002; 45: 151–67.
  • [3] Archived 2012-04-14 at the Wayback Machine McLuckie, Craig. "William McIlvanney and the Provocative Witness: Resistance in the 'Laidlaw' Trilogy," Revista Canaria de Estudios Ingleses (RCEI) 2000 Nov; 41: 87-101.
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