William McIlvanney, novelist and poet, Died at 79

  Writers

William McIlvanney was born on November 25, 1936, and died on December 5, 2015.

He was a Scottish novelist, short story writer, and poet.

William was known as Willie by friends and acquaintances.

William 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 Scotland’s Camus.

William was born in Kilmarnock, 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 MA in 1960.

William then worked as an English teacher until 1975, when he left the position of assistant headmaster to pursue his writing career.

The writer’s brother is the sports journalist Hugh McIlvanney.

In addition to his writing, William McIlvanney was a writer and narrator of the BBC Scotland football documentary Only a Game? in 1986.

William passed away at age 79 in December 2015.