William McIlvanney

William McIlvanney
William McIlvanney at the Edinburgh International Book Festival 2013
Born	William Angus McIlvanney 25 November 1936 Kilmarnock, Scotland
Died	5 December 2015 (aged 79) Glasgow, Scotland
Education	University of Glasgow
Notable works	Docherty (1975), Laidlaw (1977), Strange Loyalties (1991)
Website
www.williammcilvanney.com

William McIlvanney (25 November 1936 – 5 December 2015) was a Scottish novelist, short story writer, and poet. He was known as Willie by friends and acquaintances. McIlvanney was a champion of gritty yet poetic literature; his works Laidlaw, The Papers of Tony Veitch, and Walking Wounded are all known for their portrayal of Glasgow in the 1970s. He is regarded as "the father of 'Tartan Noir’" and as Scotland's Camus.

McIlvanney was born in Kilmarnock on 25 November 1936, the youngest of four children of a former miner, and attended school at Kilmarnock Academy. He went on to study English at the University of Glasgow and graduated with an MA in 1960. McIlvanney then worked as an English teacher until 1975, when he left the position of assistant headmaster at Greenwood Academy to pursue his writing career. The writer's elder brother is the sports journalist Hugh McIlvanney.

In addition to his literary career, McIlvanney wrote regularly for newspapers, and was a writer and narrator of the BBC Scotland football documentary Only a Game? in 1986.

McIlvanney held onto his strong socialist views throughout his life. In common with many from his background in Scotland, he was strongly opposed to Thatcherism. Later he became disappointed by the shift of Labour under Tony Blair and by 2014 he had come to feel, hesitantly, that Scottish independence might be the best political solution.

William McIlvanney died on 5 December 2015 at the age of 79, after a short illness. On hearing of his death, a number of public figures, including Nicola Sturgeon, Ian Rankin and Irvine Welsh, paid tribute noting both his inspirational writing and his likeable and gentlemanly personality.The Telegraph obituary noted: "Many authors are admired. Many are respected. Few are loved as he was, for what they are as well as for what they have written."