A Life In Pictures

Description

Alasdair Gray is known throughout the world for his writing, but he is also a highly regarded artist who not only illustrates and designs his own books, but has created many beautiful and intriguing portraits, paintings, posters and murals. Alasdair started painting and writing from an early age, and in his seventies he's still vigorously doing both. In this autopictography he gathers together the work that has mattered most to him over the years, and weaves the story of his life through and around these pictures in his own unmistakable style. A beautifully and copiously illustrated book, designed by himself, this is life as seen by one of the millennium's most entertaining and wry creative geniuses.

Since 1981, when Alasdair Gray's first novel (Lanark: A Life in Four Books) was published by Canongate, he had published twenty books, most of them novels and short stories. In his own words, 'Alasdair Gray is a fat, spectacled, balding, increasingly old Glaswegian pedestrian who has mainly lived by writing and designing books, most of them fiction.'

* Gray is a true original, a twentieth century William Blake Observer * Surely there is no more handsome book published this year Guardian * A truly remarkable visual and literary biography ... [from] Glasgow's resident genius Herald * Marvellous ... a pleasure to hold and well as to read Times Literary Supplement * A detailed and wonderfully realised 'autopictography', it reveals the idiosyncratic genius of a man who has come to embody all that's good about artistic cross-pollination and creative thinking Big Issue * A necessary genius. -- Ali Smith * A master at rummaging in the dustbins of the mind. Daily Telegraph * Alasdair Gray has broken the mould again ... A Life in Pictures, travels right to the heart of his dark, turbulent and chaotic imagination, and lights up a path through his life; it also makes the reader imagine her own life in pictures. Observer * There is the sense ... of a warm and eccentric intelligence at work ... The wry humour, at one of the book's sadder moments, exemplifies the winning tone of this absorbing 'autopictography', whose high production values and coffee-table heft should see it purchased for many a bibliophile come Christmas. Spectator * A great writer, perhaps the greatest writer living in Britain today. -- Will Self * As wonderful and unorthodox an autobiography from this subversive and rambunctious magnus of Scottish fiction as you would expect. Metro * A thick, gorgeous account of is life from early childhood to the present. The Skinny * Alastair Gray's life has the quality of a fairy tale. In simple terms: social toad is transformed into artistic prince, and kisses the hand of gorgeous renown. Times Literary Supplement * Just because my colleagues have already had their say on the subject, I am not going to let that stop me recommending it as a fine GBP35 worth, packed with terrific images and accompanied by his inimitable characteristic narration. -- Keith Bruce Herald * [Gray] muses on his life story with wry humour, creating a rich and colourful compendium that is utterly original. Good Book Guide * Well worth the wait, A LIfe in Pictures offers a rich and much-needed guide to the work of arguably Scotland's greatest living artist. Literary Review * A cultural gem to behold, this long overdue publication will delight both established fans and those who have just discovered the artist. Business Destinations