Ian Rankin's parents were horrified when he then chose to study literature at university, as they had expected him to study for a trade.
21 Facts About Ian Rankin
2.
Ian Rankin has taught at the university and retains an involvement with the James Tait Black Memorial Prize.
3.
Ian Rankin lived in Tottenham, London, for four years and then rural France for six while he developed his career as a novelist.
4.
Ian Rankin thought his first novels, Knots and Crosses and Hide and Seek, were mainstream books, more in keeping with the Scottish traditions of Robert Louis Stevenson and even Muriel Spark.
5.
Ian Rankin was disconcerted by their classification as genre fiction.
6.
In 2009, Ian Rankin donated the short story "Fieldwork" to Oxfam's Ox-Tales project, four collections of UK stories written by 38 authors.
7.
In 2009 Ian Rankin stated on Radio Five Live that he would start work on a five- or six-issue run on the comic book Hellblazer, although he may turn the story into a stand-alone graphic novel instead.
8.
In 2013, Ian Rankin co-wrote the play Dark Road with Mark Thomson, the artistic director of the Royal Lyceum Theatre.
9.
Ian Rankin writes under the pseudonym Jack Harvey as well.
10.
In 2021, Ian Rankin helped finish a draft by William McIlvanney, a prequel telling the story of an early case of McIlvanney's fictional detective Jack Laidlaw.
11.
McIlvanney, whom Ian Rankin admires, had died in 2015 leaving the manuscript unfinished.
12.
In 2022, Ian Rankin signed a deal with publisher Orion to write two new John Rebus novels.
13.
Ian Rankin is a regular contributor to the BBC Two arts programme Newsnight Review.
14.
In 2007, Ian Rankin appeared in programmes for BBC Four exploring the origins of his alter-ego character, John Rebus.
15.
Ian Rankin is the singer in the six-piece band Best Picture, formed by journalists Kenny Farquharson and Euan McColl in 2017, and featuring Bobby Bluebell on guitar.
16.
Ian Rankin has acknowledged the assistance they get from Forward Vision in Edinburgh in looking after Kit and other young adults with special needs.
17.
Ian Rankin appears as a character in McCall Smith's 2004 novel, 44 Scotland Street.
18.
Many of the sculptures made reference to the work of Ian Rankin, and an eleventh sculpture was a personal gift to him.
19.
In 2019, Ian Rankin donated his personal archives to the National Library of Scotland after moving to his flat in the Quartermile.
20.
Ian Rankin has donated a considerable portion of his earnings to charity.
21.
Ian Rankin was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 2002 for services to literature and knighted in the 2022 Birthday Honours for services to literature and charity.