Biography
James Kelman's early fiction includes the short-story collections An Old Pub Near the Angel (1973) and Not Not While the Giro (1983), and the novels The Busconductor Hines (1984) and A Chancer (1985). He gained wider recognition in the U.K. with Greyhound for Breakfast (1987), winner of the Cheltenham Prize, and the novel, A Disaffection (1989), which won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize (for fiction).
How late it was, how late (1994), the story of a man who wakes up in a police cell after an encounter with the police that leaves him blind, won the Booker Prize for Fiction. In 1998 he was awarded the Scotland on Sunday/Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland Award and the Stakis Prize for Scottish Writer of the Year for his collection of short stories The Good Times (1998). His novel, Translated Accounts (2001), is set in an unnamed territory that appears to be under military rule. You Have to be Careful in the Land of the Free was published in 2004.
He is the author of a television screenplay, The Return (1991), and has written many plays for radio and theatre. Hardie and Baird, and other plays was published in 1991. He spent three semesters teaching at the University of Texas (1998, 1999 and 2001) and is currently attached to Goldsmiths College, London, and the University of Glasgow. His book, And the Judges Said... (2002), is a collection of essays.
James Kelman lives in Glasgow with his wife. Kieron Smith, Boy, his latest novel, was published in 2008, along with a collection of short stories. It won the 2008 Saltire Scottish Book of the Year Award and the the prestigious Aye Write! Bank of Scotland Prize for Scottish Fiction.
Bibliography
An Old Pub Near the Angel Puckerbrush Press (USA), 1973
Three Glasgow Writers (with Alex Hamilton and Tom Leonard) Molendinar Press, 1976
Short Tales from the Nightshift Print Studio Press, 1978
James Kelman (Writers-in-Brief) National Book League, 1980
Not Not While the Giro Polygon Press, 1983
The Busconductor Hines Polygon Press, 1984
A Chancer Polygon Press, 1985
Lean Tales (with Agnes Owens and Alasdair Gray) Cape, 1985
Greyhound for Breakfast Secker & Warburg, 1987
A Disaffection Secker & Warburg, 1989
Hardie and Baird, and other plays Secker & Warburg, 1991
The Burn Secker & Warburg, 1991
Some Recent Attacks: Essays Cultural and Political (essays) AK Press, 1992
How late it was, how late Secker & Warburg, 1994
Busted Scotch W. W. Norton (USA only), 1997
Seven Stories (audio cassette, read by James Kelman) Sound House-AK Audio, 1997
The Good Times Secker & Warburg, 1998
Translated Accounts Secker & Warburg, 2001
And the Judges Said ... (essays) Secker & Warburg, 2002
You Have To Be Careful in the Land of the Free Hamish Hamilton, 2004
Kieron Smith, Boy Hamish Hamilton, 2008
Short Stories Hamish Hamilton, 2008
Prizes and awards
1987 The Cheltenham Prize Greyhound for Breakfast
1989 Booker Prize for Fiction (shortlist) A Disaffection
1989 James Tait Black Memorial Prize (for fiction) A Disaffection
1994 Booker Prize for Fiction How late it was, how late
1994 Writers' Guild Award (Best Fiction) How late it was, how late
1998 Scotland on Sunday/Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland Award The Good Times
1998 Stakis Prize for Scottish Writer of the Year The Good Times
2004 Saltire Society Scottish Book of the Year Award (shortlist) You Have to be Careful in the Land of the Free
2005 Scottish Arts Council Book of the Year Award (shortlist) You Have to be Careful in the Land of the Free
2008 Saltire Society Scottish Book of the Year Award Kieron Smith, Boy Hamish Hamilton, 2008