[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.