“The Glasgow School of Art is saddened to hear of the death of writer, artist and GSA alumnus Alasdair Gray just one day after his 85thbirthday.
“His contribution to Scottish literature and art was remarkable. We have lost a cultural legend.”
“Our thoughts are with his family at this sad time.”
Tributes pour in for the writer and artist who helped to put Glasgow
on the international stage:
“Gray transformed our expectations of what Scottish literature could be.”
Val McDermid
“Gray was one of Scotland’s literary giants, and a decent, principled human being. He’ll be remembered best for the masterpiece that is Lanark, but everything he wrote reflected his brilliance. Today, we mourn the loss of a genius, and think of his family.”
Nicola Sturgeon
“Alasdair Gray was a unique talent. In Lanark, and 1982 Janine especially he wrote two of the greatest Scottish novels and influences a creative generation.”
Irvine Welsh
[Alasdair Gray] was responsible for making everyday Scottish life interesting on an international level. He could take something very personal to him – his background growing up in Glasgow for example – and make it that people around the world wanted to read it. He was part of that thing about taking Scotland out of the kailyard, writing sort of misty stories of Highland villages.Suddenly you were writing about things that meant stuff, writing politically, writing about your own experiences.”
Ian Rankin
“Farewell to Alasdair Gray, Scotland’s great creator. We’ll miss you for your art, we’ll miss you for your stories, we’ll miss you for your humanity.”
Stuart Murdoch (Belle And Sebastian)
“one of the very greatest writers of the last fifty years.”
Jonathan Coe