Alasdair Gray

Alasdair Gray (author of Lanark, amongst others) cuts an odd figure in a rumpled suit, goatee, with wild hair, bottle-bottom specs and blossoming midriff. Rocking with laughter at another's reading, he knocks over and breaks a wineglass- he's sober, just apparently born without proprioception.

His spoken voice is a presbyterian squeal, well suited to the irony embedded in his wide-ranging work. At Word-Power's radical bookfair opening, AG read the monologue of the talkative dentist in 'The Trendelenburg Position' from his latest collection, 'Ten Tall Tales'. Pomposity, indignation, self-righteousness and pressure-of-speech pour out of him like water from a ewer. There's a 30-sec audio clip of AG reading this linked on this webpage.



If you haven't heard AG speak, his 3-minute essay on a nation of arselickers, broadcast on R4's 'Today' in April 2003, just after war broke out, gives a taste. This kind commentator at imakecontent transcribed some of AG's verbal essay, and provides a link to the 'listen again' audio record.

AG's other talent is as a graphic artist, his illustrations as quirky as the man.