Iain Banks


1954 - 2013

Author. Born in Dunfermline, the son of a naval officer, Banks was educated in Gourock, Greenock and then the University of Stirling, graduating in 1975. Thereafter he took a series of jobs, including working as technician at the Nigg Bay oil platform construction site and at the IBM computer plant at Spango Valley (Inverclyde). He later moved to London, where he worked as a clerk at a law firm. He went on to become one of Scotland's leading writers, with works including The Wasp Factory (1984), Espedair Street (1987), The Crow Road (1992), which has been made into a successful TV drama, Complicity (1993), Feersum Endjinn (1994) and The Bridge (1997). His novels were rooted in the townscapes and landscapes of Scotland.

He also wrote science fiction, distinguished because he uses his middle initial (M) in his name, including State of the Art (1989), Consider Phlebas (1991) and Against a Dark Background (1993). He was also a lover of Scotch Whisky and wrote about this in Raw Spirit (2003). He was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Stirling in 1997.

Latterly, Banks lived in North Queensferry.


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