Poet And Crime Novelist William McIlvanney Awarded Honorary Degree At Glasgow Memorial Service

Natalie Walker at the Scotsman offers the below piece:

William McIlvanney has been honoured with a posthumous doctorate by his former university at a memorial service. 

A host of famous figures paid tribute to the author, known as the Godfather of Tartan Noir, at the service at Glasgow University’s Bute Hall yesterday. Guests included authors Val McDermid, Allan Massie and Ali Smith and journalist Hugh McDonald.

His friend, broadcaster Ruth Wishart, introduced the service which included readings by Glasgow-born actor David Hayman. Traditional musician Sheena Wellington, who sang at the opening ceremony of the Scottish Parliament in 1999, also performed.

The author of the acclaimed Glasgow detective Laidlaw trilogy and numerous other works set in the city, such as Docherty, The Big Man and The Kiln, died aged 79 at his home there on 5 December.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/culture/books/william-mcilvanney-awarded-honorary-degree-at-glasgow-memorial-service-1-4089069

William McIlvanney: The Father Of Tartan Noir

Allan Massie in the Wall Street Journal looks back at William McIlvanney's Scottish classic crime novels.

Crime and Scotland go together, fictionally at least. Set aside J.K. Rowling, and the leading, certainly the most popular, Scottish novelists today are crime-writers, with Ian Rankin and Denise Mina only two of those who show us how nefarious activity permeates society. Most genre writers are prolific, a novel a year or every 18 months being normal. There is one notable exception over here, and it’s the man who is widely regarded as the father of “Tartan Noir”: William McIlvanney. He has written only three crime novels, “Laidlaw” (1977), “The Papers of Tony Veitch” (1983) and “Strange Loyalties” (1991), all featuring Glasgow policeman Jack Laidlaw. If three novels seem a narrow foundation for such a reputation, we might remember that Raymond Chandler wrote only half a dozen. Now, after some years out of print, leading a shadowy life in popular memory, the Laidlaw novels are available in handsome editions from Europa Press.   

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-father-of-tartan-noir-1437772631