Biography

I was born in Falkirk in 1975. Falkirk is a small town in Scotland almost exactly halfway between Glasgow and Edinburgh. If you go between Glasgow and Edinburgh on the train, you will always stop at Falkirk halfway there. And if you look out of the window (to the left if you’re coming from Glasgow, just after the tunnel through which you leave Falkirk High Station) you’ll see Hallglen, which is the housing scheme where I grew up
Alan Bissett and where my family still live. You’ll know it cos all of the buildings are white. Or at least they used to be. Now they’re a kind of dull grey colour.

I went to Hallglen Primary School, which I loved, and Falkirk High School, which I didn’t enjoy very much, mainly cos I was one of those depressed teenagers that we keep reading about these days. Then I went to Stirling University and got a First in English and Education, which surprised everyone, not least me. After a spell teaching English in secondary schools, I got tired of not being a student and went back to study for a PhD.

I didn’t get a PhD. But I did get two books published. And those books were Boyracers (which I done wrote) and Damage Land (which I done edited). During that time I was also shortlisted for the now-defunct but then-prestigious Macallan/Scotland on Sunday Short-story Competition, but didn’t win it, which is a shame, as seven grand always comes in handy. Especially when you’re a student. I was long- or short-listed for this fucking award every year for four years, without ever winning it. I was hoping they were just going to give it to me out of sympathy one year.

Hey ho. I then lectured in Creative Writing at the Bretton Hall campus of the University of Leeds for about three years, where I wrote my second novel, The Incredible Adam Spark. Now I teach on the MPhil in Creative Writing at the University of Glasgow, which has produced almost every new writer in Scotland and their aunty. Unfortunately, I can’t take credit for any of them, as they had all graduated before I arrived.

I live in Glasgow, but I visit Falkirk and Leeds a lot. I write stuff. I have a brother, a sister, a mum and a dad. I have two wee nephews. They are ace. And that’s it really. Most writers have deeply boring lives. Unless you’re George Orwell, and get shot fighting in a war or sleep on the streets for research and stuff. And I don’t fancy that much, sorry.

I also like cherry-coke and peach schnapps.