Alasdair Gray (1934 – 2019) was a Glasgow-born writer and artist. Over decades creating poems, plays, short stories, novels, political essays, murals, paintings, drawings and prints, he built a legacy as a polymath and one of Scotland’s most uncompromisingly original artistic voices.

Gray has been called “the father figure of the renaissance in Scottish literature and art”. A mammoth figure in Scottish literature, his 1981 debut Lanark is recognised by many as his crowning achievement. The other definitive novels 1982, Janine (1984) and Poor Things (1992) add to a body of literary work arguably unsurpassed in post-war Scottish writing.

His writing is boldly eclectic – weaving together an enormous number of literary and artistic influences. He was playful with form – at times making creative use of text and typography – and genre, with his works spanning realism, fantasy and science fiction, often in one go.

Gray – who referred to himself as an artist who fell into writing – had a similarly unmistakeable style in his visual art. In an expansive career, he produced paintings, prints, illustrations, murals, typeset his own books and designed his own font. Glasgow is imbued with his work, including famous murals at the Oran Mor venue, Hillhead subway station and the Ubiquitous Chip pub and restaurant.

You can read a timeline of Alasdair's life and work at the website of the Alasdair Gray Archive.