| Events - Memorial Service, 2nd April 2016 |
| News - William McIlvanney Campus |
| Events - Willie receives UWS Honorary Doctorate |
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William Mcilvanney received an Honorary Doctorate from University of the West of Scotland (UWS) at its graduation ceremony on Friday 28 November at Ayr Town Hall. Willie was particularly pleased to be receiving such recognition in his home county of Ayrshire.
Willie said: “I am obviously honoured to receive this award but I am not taking it too personally. I can think of several modern Scottish writers at least as worthy of this as I am and I accept it on behalf of all of us.”
Professor Craig Mahoney, Principal & Vice-Chancellor of University of the West of Scotland, said: “We are delighted to award William McIlvanney, who is one of Scotland’s most celebrated novelists, with an Honorary Doctorate. I am sure due to his previous involvement in education he will appreciate receiving this award along with our distinguished graduates at our ceremony in Ayr.”
Willie is pictured, left, at the ceremony with Ian Welsh who is Chair of University Court.
To read the UWS report click here.
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| As Bloody Scotland 2014 approaches we look back on last year's event |
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Report on Willie at Bloody Scotland 2013
Len Wanner’s introduction to the man himself was fulsome and considered. Comments such as … created an archetype with an all access pass … seen as the source for tartan noir …the genre debt to him is remarkable.
When Len paused for a response, Willie joked he should now leave, that anything else would be an anti-climax.
Len’s first question, almost inevitably – because it’s what I wanted to know, was why did he turn to crime?
After writing his critically acclaimed novel, Docherty, Willie felt what he described as contemporary starvation. He want to connect with his peers and on further deliberation he said he heard a voice. This voice in his head was abrasive … it was clearly Scottish and he deliberately made him a policeman because he wanted him to deal with the bad stuff in society.
He went on to say that he was more than pleasantly surprised with the impact.
He argued that he shouldn’t take sole credit for beginning a genre. What he experienced was a hunger for contemporary life and Laidlaw gave him a vehicle for re-connecting.
To read more of Michael Malone's report click here. |
| McIlvanney Revival - Laidlaw launched May 2nd |
The McIlvanney revival has started with the launch, on May 2nd, of Laidlaw. Canongate is planning to bring a number of other titles by Whitbread award-winning Scottish crime novelist William McIlvanney back into print, two of them later this year.
Editorial director Francis Bickmore bought world rights through agent Jenny Brown, and plans to re-publish Laidlaw, The Papers of Tony Veitch and Strange Loyalties in 2013, followed by McIlvanney's Whitbread-winning Docherty and The Big Man in 2014. McIlvanney was previously published by Sceptre.
  
Bickmore said: "It is not exaggerating to say that William McIlvanney's Laidlaw trilogy led to the birth of Scottish crime fiction as we know it. Socially-conscious, morally complex, philosophical and laced with sardonic wit, Detective Laidlaw's cases are also ruthlessly page-turning.
"We are thrilled at Canongate to have the chance to publish McIlvanney with the energy he deserves and to take these irresistible books to a whole new generation of readers. Starting with his appearance at Bloody Scotland 2012, McIlvanney is back with a vengeance."
Charlotte Williams - thebookseller.com
Also check Canongate Books |
| Liam's second novel - out in September 2013 |
WHERE THE DEAD MEN GO by LIAM MCILVANNEY
After three years in the wilderness, hardboiled reporter Gerry Conway is back at his desk at the Glasgow Tribune. But three years is a long time on newspapers and things have changed - readers are dwindling, budgets are tightening, and the Trib's once rigorous standards are slipping. Once the paper's star reporter, Conway now plays second fiddle to his former protege, crime reporter Martin Moir. But when Moir goes AWOL as a big story breaks, Conway is dispatched to cover a gangland shooting. And when Moir's body turns up in a flooded quarry, Conway is drawn deeper into the city's criminal underworld as he looks for the truth about his colleague's death.
Braving the hostility of gangsters, ambitious politicians and his own newspaper bosses, Conway discovers he still has what it takes to break a big story. But this is a story not everyone wants to hear as the city prepares to host the Commonwealth Games and the country gears up for a make-or- break referendum on independence. In this, the second book in the Conway Trilogy, McIlvanney explores the murky interface of crime and politics in the new Scotland. |
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| e-mail: neil.mcilvanney@personaldispatches.com |
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Willie and his website are featured on page 3 of S on S. Click here.
