23 Facts About Irvine Welsh

Irvine Welsh was born on 27 September 1958 and is a Scottish novelist, playwright and short story writer.

Irvine Welsh has written plays and screenplays, and directed several short films.

Irvine Welsh was born in Leith, the port area of the Scottish capital Edinburgh.

Irvine Welsh states that he was born in 1958, though, according to the Glasgow police, his birth record is dated around 1951.

Irvine Welsh's father was a dock worker in Leith until bad health forced him to stop, after which he became a carpet salesman; he died when Welsh was 25.

Irvine Welsh became an apprentice TV repairman until an electric shock persuaded him to move on to a series of other jobs.

Irvine Welsh left Edinburgh for the London punk scene in 1978, where he played guitar and sang in The Pubic Lice and Stairway 13.

Irvine Welsh worked for Hackney Council in London and studied computing with the support of the Manpower Services Commission.

Irvine Welsh returned to Edinburgh in the late 1980s, where he worked for the city council in the housing department.

Irvine Welsh then studied for an MBA at Heriot-Watt University.

Irvine Welsh has published eleven novels and four collections of short stories.

Irvine Welsh appeared in the film in the minor role of drug dealer Mikey Forrester.

Irvine Welsh adapted three of the stories for a later film of the same name, in which he appeared.

In 2007, Irvine Welsh published If You Liked School You'll Love Work, his first collection of short stories in over a decade.

Irvine Welsh contributed a novella called Contamination to The Weekenders: Travels in the Heart of Africa.

Irvine Welsh co-authored Babylon Heights with his screen writing partner Dean Cavanagh.

Irvine Welsh directed his first short dramatic film, NUTS, which he co-wrote with Cavanagh.

Irvine Welsh co-directed "The Right to liberty", a chapter of the documentary film The New Ten Commandments, in 2008.

In 2009 Irvine Welsh directed the film Good Arrows.

Irvine Welsh is known for writing in his native Edinburgh Scots dialect.

Irvine Welsh generally ignores the traditional conventions of literary Scots, used for example by Allan Ramsay, Robert Fergusson, Robert Burns, Robert Louis Stevenson, and James Orr.

Irvine Welsh returned to the Uk after divorcing his American wife in 2018.

Irvine Welsh is an avid supporter of Hibernian FC and of Scottish independence.