Scottish Blog

Irvine Welsh is a popular contemporary Scottish writer.

When you imagine something that brings fame to Scotland, it is easy to divulge into the past, the Scottish Enlightenment, William Wallace ...

Yet there are numerous examples of things and people who are an inspiration and a point of pride for Scotland. One such person is Irvine Welsh, writer, playwright and director. He is best known for his book and its subsequent film adaptation, Trainspotting.

In 1958, Irvine Welsh was born in Leith. In 1962 his family moved to Edinburgh. He attended Ainslie Park Secondary School, although he left at the age of 16, to complete a course in electrical engineering. This lead to a short career as a television repairman. After an accident, Irvine Welsh switched careers a number of times. Amongst these other jobs he was at one point a musician in a London punk band, a local council member also in London and had also studied computing.

With his collected money Irvine Welsh went on to become a property speculator during the 1980s London property boom. At the decline of the boom, Irvine Welsh returned to his work as a council member and also studied for a Masters in Business Administration.

In 1993, Irvine Welsh published his most popular work, Trainspotting. This hit was followed in 1994 by The Acid House. In 1995 he released the Marabou Stork Nightmares, Ecstasy in 1996, Filth in 1998, Glue in 2001, Porno in 2001 and The Bedroom Secrets of Master Chefs in 2006. Much of the work by Irvine Welsh is written in a heavy Edinburgh Scots dialect. Although this may alienate some readers, it is an interesting and true to life view of some of Scotland’s culture.

See also: Famous Scots.