Irvine Welsh

(born September 1961 -) - Leith, Edinburgh

Irvine Welsh

Violent, loud, obscene; funny, honest, intelligent - Irvine Welsh’s literature is all this and more. Born into working-class Edinburgh, Welsh attended Heriot-Watt University in the city, where, it is said, he started writing his first and most famous novel Trainspotting. His portrait of young heroin users living on the edge of society – on the edge of life – was famously filmed in 1996.

Writing predominantly in Scots vernacular, and writing about issues which will be familiar to anyone growing up in working-class Scotland over the last few decades, his novels and short stories are nonetheless popular across the UK and further afield. Irvine Welsh is now a partner in a film production company, 4 Ways. Porno, is a sequel to Trainspotting. The Bedroom Secrets of the Master Chefs, was launched at the 2006 Edinburgh International Book Festival. His most recent novel is Crime; the short story anthology Reheated Cabbage followed in 2009.

  • Cover scan of The Acid House
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    The Acid House - Paperback
    The Acid House presents a collection of short stories by Irvine Welsh. Using a range of approaches from bitter realism to demented fantasy, the stories cover a diverse range of subjects and are told in Welsh's distinctive style.
  • Cover scan of The Bedroom Secrets Of The Master Chefs
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    The Bedroom Secrets Of The Master Chefs - Hardback
    Troubled environmental health officer Danny Skinner is engaged on a quest to uncover what he refers to as the 'bedroom secrets of the master chefs.' To this end, he travels from Edinburgh to San Francisco, where he meets a strange nemesis in the form of Brian Kibby - but it is in his rival that Danny will find his destiny.
  • Cover scan of Crime
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    Crime - Hardback
    A novel about the corruption and abuse of the human soul and the possibilities of redemption, 'Crime' is a thrilling journey into the bright glamour of the Sunshine State and a seething underworld of utter darkness.
  • Cover scan of Ecstasy
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    Ecstasy: Three Tales Of Chemical Romance - Paperback
    Irvine Welsh is the controversial author of Trainspotting and The Acid House. With Ecstacy, Welsh presents three stories about love and drug culture.
  • Cover scan of Filth
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    Filth - Paperback
    In Bruce Robertson, Welsh has created one of the most corrupt, misanthropic characters in contemporary fiction, and has written a dark, disturbing and very funny novel about sleaze, power, and the abuse of everything.
  • Cover scan of Glue
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    Glue - Paperback
    Glue is the story of four boys growing up in Edinburgh. Follow their lives from the 1970s to the new century, from punk to techno, from speed to Es, see each of them as they struggle to get away from the conditioning of class and culture.
  • Cover scan of If You Liked School, You'll Love Work
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    If You Liked School, You'll Love Work - Hardback
    Many questions are posed, and answered, in these five extraordinary stories: stories that remind us that Irvine Welsh is a master of the shorter form, a brilliant storyteller, and - unarguably - one of the funniest writers in Britain.
  • Cover scan of Marabou Stork Nightmares
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    Marabou Stork Nightmares - Paperback
    Roy Strang is engaged in a odd quest to eradicate the scavenger bird, the Marabou Stork, before it drives away the flamingo from the Lake Torto in South Africa. But behind this world lies the world of Roy's bizarre family & his youthful life of brutality.
  • Cover scan of Porno
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    Porno - Paperback
    In the fag-end of his youth, Simon 'Sick Boy' Williamson is back in his native Edinburgh to realise his dream of making a pornographic movie. 'Porno' is the sequel to 'Trainspotting'.
  • Cover scan of Reheated Cabbage
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    Reheated Cabbage: Tales Of Chemical Degeneration - Hardback
    Most of the stories in 'Reheated Cabbage' originally appeared in fugitive form in magazines and long out-of-print anthologies. Finally collected together, they show all Irvine Welsh's trademark skills.
  • Cover scan of Trainspotting
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    Trainspotting - Paperback
    The story of Edinburgh heroin addicts which changed the face of British fiction.
  • Cover scan of You'll Have Had Your Hole
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    You'll Have Had Your Hole - Paperback
    From the author of Trainspotting comes this new play You'll Have Had Your Hole.

Bibliography

Books about Irvine Welsh

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    Irvine Welsh For Starters - Paperback - Willy Maley
    Providing an entertaining and cutting-edge introduction to one of the most important contemporary authors, 'Irvine Welsh for Starters' discusses issues and matters raised in novels such as 'Trainspotting', 'Ecstasy', 'Filth' and 'Glue.'
  • Cover scan of Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting

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    Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting: A Reader's Guide - Paperback - Robert A. Morace
    This series gives readers accessible and informative introductions to 30 of the most popular, most acclaimed and most influential contemporary novels. Each contain a biography of the novelist and a full-length study of the novel.
Last modified Wednesday 10 March 2010
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