Irvine Welsh: 'When you grow up in a place you think it's mundane. Then you...
As a leisured Chicagoan, Irvine Welsh is an outsider in Scotland now – but when he comes back he still pulls the odd all-nighter. As his 10th novel appears, he explains how he lost his taste for...
View ArticleBook reviews roundup: Alfred Hitchcock, A Decent Ride and Words Without Music
What the critics thought of Peter Ackroyd’s Alfred Hitchcock, Irvine Welsh’s A Decent Ride and Philip Glass’s Words Without MusicReviewing Peter Ackroyd’s Alfred Hitchcockin the Daily Telegraph, Duncan...
View ArticleGuardian Live: Irvine Welsh and Jesse Armstrong on how to write comedy
Want to write comedy? At an event for Guardian Members Irvine Welsh and Jesse Armstrong offered their advice. From making playlists for characters to finding inspiration in the people around you,...
View ArticleA Decent Ride by Irvine Welsh review – poor writing and penis jokes
An outing for Irvine Welsh’s cabbie lothario is slow going thanks to half-baked typographical experiments and lifeless descriptionGiven that it features incest, rape, grave desecration, necrophilia and...
View ArticleA Decent Ride by Irvine Welsh – digested read
‘Ahve shagged all the burds in Embra with ma huge noab. What’s left tae do?’“Whaire is it yir gaun,” asks Terry the Juice Lawson to that cunt oaffay the telly in the back of is cab. Nae point lettin...
View ArticleA Decent Ride by Irvine Welsh review – Edinburgh lowlife writ large… again
Irvine Welsh’s latest novel, which features a talking penis, revels in profanity and perversion and showcases once more his mastery of the Edinburgh vernacularJonty MacKay tries to make love to a...
View ArticleTips, links and suggestions: what are you reading this week?
Your space to discuss the books you are reading and what you think of them• Read more Tips, Links and Suggestions blogsWelcome to this week’s blog. Here’s a roundup of your comments and photos from...
View ArticleEwan McGregor: I'm 'up for' a Trainspotting sequel
The actor says he has changed his mind on taking on the role of Renton again and that any bad blood between him and director Danny Boyle has now passedEwan McGregor was said that he’s open to taking on...
View ArticleDanny Boyle confirms Trainspotting sequel at Telluride film festival
Promoting new movie Steve Jobs, the director says followup to 1996 tale of Edinburgh heroin addicts will be his next projectRelated: Danny Boyle on Steve Jobs: movies must be made about powerful...
View ArticleReaders recommend: songs about being a man or woman | Peter Kimpton
Hey baby ... it’s time to define what gender means through the medium of music. Slip us your suggestions, and in title, lyrics or style, it might be a sexy week …What makes a man a man? Does he have to...
View ArticleGuadalajara book fair builds a bridge between Mexico and the UK
The giant event put a large contingent of Britain’s finest on display, and should provide an invitation for English-language readers to explore an unfamiliar new world of readingThe Guadalajara...
View ArticleIrvine Welsh: ‘I thought, what if Begbie was the most self-controlled guy in...
The Trainspotting author on returning to one of his most famous characters, overcoming dyslexia and shooting the film of PornoIrvine Welsh is the author of Trainspotting, Porno and Filth, among many...
View ArticleThe Blade Artist by Irvine Welsh review – a troublesome follow-up to...
Edinburgh’s hardman Begbie is given an unconvincing makeover as a sculptor, family man and torturer with moral intentAt the end of Trainspotting, the characters’ lives seemed mapped out until death –...
View ArticleThe Blade Artist by Irvine Welsh – digested read
‘I must go back to being Frank Begbie – then ahm gonna gouge out yer eyes un let ye bleid ta death’Jim Francis enjoys a transcendental moment with his daughter, Eve, on a deserted Californian beach....
View ArticleMale friendship in teen books - yes, really
Friendship between boys is not a topic that YA fiction tends to shout about but there are some gems out there. From Trainspotting to The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, Brian Conaghan hunts them downRead...
View ArticleBook reviews roundup: Evicted; The Bricks that Built the Houses; The Blade...
What the critics thought of Evicted by Matthew Desmond, The Bricks That Built the Houses by Kate Tempest and The Blade Artist by Irvine WelshEvicted, a study of America’s poor by the Harvard...
View ArticleTrainspotting 2: the first teaser trailer – video
Trainspotting, an adaptation of Irvine Welsh’s Edinburgh-set novel, was released in 1996. It was one of the most influential films of its time, making the careers of director Danny Boyle and cast...
View ArticleChoose life, choose Leith: alternative Edinburgh celebrates Trainspotting 2
Irvine Welsh’s book and Danny Boyle’s film defined the Scottish capital’s dark side – now they’re shooting the sequelPainted on the outside wall of Leith Dockers Club is a mural that depicts some of...
View ArticleThe Safe House: a documentary on the decline of UK libraries – trailer video
Poet and filmmaker Greta Bellamacina has teamed up with journalist Davina Catt to document the history of British public libraries and their current decline. From their Scottish beginnings in the 18th...
View ArticleMe and my lucky pants: men on the clothes they'll never throw out
From a junk shop bargain to a cosy hoodie, Irvine Welsh, Michael Kiwanuka, Tom Odell and others on the one thing they can’t live withoutMichael Kiwanuka, 29, is a soul singer-songwriter, soon to...
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