Books, Poetry & Prose: [40] My Favourite Writers: James Kelman



Books, Poetry & Prose

Samples of my very own Poetry and Short Stories, and one or two not so short stories, as well as my thoughts on Books, Writing, Life and the Universe.

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Location: Gold Coast, Australia

I was born in Motherwell, an industrial town in Scotland. I have lived in various parts of the world, including Edinburgh, London, New York, Seattle and now Australia's Gold Coast Hinterland where I have settled with my Australian wife Kerrianne. If you are into Books, Literature and Writing, welcome to my weblog. If not, welcome anyway.

  • [72]The Politics of Ignorance and Fear
  • [71]What Celtic Means To Me
  • [70]Aussie Cave Man
  • [69]No Shit
  • [68]Smoking Damages Your Brain
  • [67]Whatever Happened To Private Grief?
  • [66]A Lucrative Enterprise?
  • [65]To A Fart
  • [64]Scotland's Shame
  • [63]Bank Aid
  • [62]It's A Girl Thing
  • [61]The Kids Are Alright
  • [60]Return to Sender
  • [59]Gender Poetry
  • [58]Humour for Wordsmiths
  • [57]The Gold Coast
  • [56]A Glasgow Dynasty : Part 6 - Erchie's First Sale
  • [55]I Haven't Lived
  • [54]A Glasgow Dynasty: Part 5 - Slappin' a Polis
  • [53]A Glasgow Dynasty: Part 4 - Pissin' up a Close
  • [52]The God Delusion
  • [51]Maternal Advice
  • [50]A Glasgow Dynasty: Part 3 - Broken Biscuits
  • [49]A Killing Kindness
  • [48]A Glasgow Dynasty: Part 2 - Pissin' in the Sink
  • [47]A Glasgow Dynasty: Part 1 - The Man Fae The TV Licence
  • [46]A Slap on the Face
  • [45]How Did We Survive?
  • [44]The Black Hole
  • [43]Buried Alive
  • [42]The World Cup
  • [41]In the Movies...
  • [40]My Favourite Writers: James Kelman
  • [39]Vital Football
  • [38]My Favourite Beer
  • [37]The Dream
  • [36]Comb For Sale
  • [35]McNulty's Law
  • [34]Beware of the Dog
  • [33]The Substitute: An Extract from my Novel
  • [32]Books That Became Films
  • [31]Tall Boys and Wide Girls
  • [30]My First Novel: The Substitute
  • [29]My Favourite Writers: Louis de Bernières
  • [28]My 25 Favourite Films
  • [27]Decisions Decisions
  • [26]Devil's Desire
  • [25]Pain or Pleasure
  • [24]Out of the Mouths of Babes and Sucklings
  • [23]No More Tears
  • [22]Dame Muriel Spark 1918-2006
  • [21]10 Things I Miss About Scotland
  • [20]Little Red Riding Hood
  • [19]Natural Bridge
  • [18]Journey to Nowhere
  • [17]Westminster Man
  • [16]My 25 Favourite Albums
  • [15]Bless Me Father
  • [14]Overdrawn
  • [13]I've had it with Born-Again Christians
  • [12]Moonwalking
  • [11]My 25 Favourite Books
  • [10]Heroes and Sinners
  • [09]Thinking of Kerry
  • [08]An American Dream
  • [07]Never Again
  • [06]Under A Bridge
  • [05]Deep-Fried Madness
  • [04]Man in a Bookshop
  • [03]Was There A Time?
  • [02]The Executioner
  • [01]Will I Know Her?
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    Moby Dick


    "Nobody is perfect, but if you strive for perfection, you will never descend to mediocrity."


    Kerrianne



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    [40] My Favourite Writers: James Kelman

    James Kelman was born in Glasgow in 1946. He left school at 15 with no qualifications, to take up an apprenticeship in a print shop. He later moved to London, where he began to write. His first success came in 1973 with the publication in the USA of An Old Pub Near the Angel – a collection of short stories inspired by his experiences while doing various jobs in and around London. It was another 11 years before the appearance of his first novel – The Bus Conductor Hines – a story inspired by his own days as a bus driver in 1960s Glasgow, set deep in the underbelly of working-class Scotland and written in the Glasgow vernacular; a style which was to prevail throughout his subsequent works.

    Much success soon followed, culminating in the 1994 Booker Prize for How Late it was, How Late after being shortlisted in the previous year for A Disaffection.

    Bibliography:

    An Old Pub Near the Angel
    - Puckerbrush Press (USA) 1973
    Three Glasgow Writers (with Alex Hamilton and Tom Leonard) - Molendinar Press 1976
    Short Tales from the Nightshift - Print Studio Press 1978
    James Kelman (Writers-in-Brief) - National Book League 1980
    Not Not While the Giro - Polygon Press 1983
    The Busconductor Hines - Polygon Press 1984
    A Chancer - Polygon Press 1985
    Lean Tales (with Agnes Owens and Alasdair Gray) - Jonathan Cape 1985
    Greyhound for Breakfast - Secker & Warburg 1987 – Cheltenham Prize
    A Disaffection - Secker & Warburg 1989 - James Tait Black Memorial Prize
    Hardie and Baird, and other plays - Secker & Warburg 1991
    The Burn - Secker & Warburg 1991
    Some Recent Attacks: Essays Cultural and Political - AK Press 1992
    How late it was, how late - Secker & Warburg 1994 – Booker Prize
    Busted Scotch - W. W. Norton (USA only) 1997
    Seven Stories (audio cassette, read by James Kelman) - Sound House-AK Audio 1997
    The Good Times - Secker & Warburg 1998 - Stakis Prize for Scottish Writer of the Year
    Translated Accounts - Secker & Warburg 2001
    And the Judges Said... (essays) - Secker & Warburg 2002
    You Have To Be Careful in the Land of the Free - Hamish Hamilton 2004

    James Kelman holds very strong views about the literary establishment, pouring scorn on the English Literature taught in schools and universities, describing them as a means of control by England in particular and the upper-classes in general. His writing rejects the very idea of the so-called Great Literary Tradition, choosing instead to write about issues which are immediate and relevant.

    Kelman is a great believer in political and literary freedom of speech, reflected in his throwing away of classical writing conventions – particularly with the grammar of dialogue – which had the aforementioned literary establishment split down the middle at the time of his Booker award, which caused great controversy and, in my view, was a wake-up call to British writing, which is all the better for it.

    I had the pleasure of knowing James personally when he was Writer in Residence for Renfrew District Libraries in Scotland, where I used to attend the local Paisley and Linwood Writing Groups. He was a great inspiration to the various aspiring writers and was then, as well as through his subsequent writing, a tremendous influence on me personally as the writer I am today.

    A true working-class hero, James Kelman now lives back in Glasgow with his wife.


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