Irvine Welsh

more photos (7)





Irvine Welsh

Author profile


born
in Edinburgh, The United Kingdom
September 27, 1958

gender
male

website

genre

influences
Celine. Iain Banks. Hubert Selby Jr. Alasdair Gray


About this author

Probably most famous for his gritty depiction of a gang of Scottish Heroin addicts, Trainspotting, Welsh focuses on the darker side of human nature and drug use. All of his novels are set in his native Scotland and filled with anti-heroes, small time crooks and hooligans. Welsh manages, however to imbue these characters with a sad humanity that makes them likable despite their obvious scumbaggerry. Irvine Welsh is also known for writing in his native Edinburgh Scots dialect, making his prose challenging for the average reader unfamiliar with this style.


Average rating: 3.84 · 101,726 ratings · 3,117 reviews · 62 distinct works · Similar authors
Trainspotting
4.01 of 5 stars 4.01 avg rating — 55,995 ratings — published 1993 — 63 editions
Filth
3.61 of 5 stars 3.61 avg rating — 6,810 ratings — published 1998 — 29 editions
Porno
3.69 of 5 stars 3.69 avg rating — 7,154 ratings — published 2000 — 29 editions
The Acid House
3.62 of 5 stars 3.62 avg rating — 6,403 ratings — published 1994 — 24 editions
Marabou Stork Nightmares
3.78 of 5 stars 3.78 avg rating — 4,563 ratings — published 1995 — 16 editions
Glue
3.79 of 5 stars 3.79 avg rating — 4,031 ratings — published 2001 — 20 editions
Ecstasy
3.51 of 5 stars 3.51 avg rating — 4,108 ratings — published 1996 — 27 editions
The Bedroom Secrets of the ...
3.42 of 5 stars 3.42 avg rating — 2,409 ratings — published 2006 — 22 editions
Crime
3.48 of 5 stars 3.48 avg rating — 1,425 ratings — published 2008 — 17 editions
If You Liked School, You'll...
3.34 of 5 stars 3.34 avg rating — 1,536 ratings — published 2007 — 15 editions
More books by Irvine Welsh…

Upcoming Events

No scheduled events. Add an event.

Interviews

September 2012, Irvine Welsh
"His Favorite Books About Addiction: The Trainspotting author revives his gang of Edinburgh heroin junkies in a new book, Skagboys, and offers five recs about addicts." ...More

more interviews »

“Choose a life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a fucking big television. Choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players and electrical tin openers... Choose DSY and wondering who the fuck you are on a Sunday morning. Choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing, spirit crushing game shows, stucking junk food into your mouth. Choose rotting away in the end of it all, pishing your last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish, fucked up brats you spawned to replace yourself, choose your future. Choose life... But why would I want to do a thing like that?”
Irvine Welsh, Trainspotting

“I'm not running away, I'm moving on.”
Irvine Welsh

“We start off with high hopes, then we bottle it. We realise that we’re all going to die, without really finding out the big answers. We develop all those long-winded ideas which just interpret the reality of our lives in different ways, without really extending our body of worthwhile knowledge, about the big things, the real things. Basically, we live a short disappointing life; and then we die. We fill up our lives with shite, things like careers and relationships to delude ourselves that it isn’t all totally pointless.”
Irvine Welsh, Trainspotting

Polls

More...

Topics Mentioning This Author



Is this you? Let us know. If not, help out and invite Irvine to Goodreads.