Alan Bissett

Alan Bissett (born 17 November 1975) is a Scottish author and playwright. He became known for his alternative take on Scots dialect writing with the publication of his first two novels; Boyracers and The Incredible Adam Spark, developing a style specific to his hometown of Falkirk while incorporating popular culture references and socialist politics.

Bissett formerly lectured in creative writing at Bretton Hall College, now part of the University of Leeds, and tutored the creative writing MLitt at the University of Glasgow alongside Janice Galloway and Tom Leonard. He also applied to be rector of the University of Glasgow in 2014. He became a full-time writer in December 2007. In March 2012, he became a "Cultural Ambassador" for National Collective, a creative organisation which supports Scottish independence.

Background Bissett was born in 1975. He attended Falkirk High School and then the University of Stirling, where he gained a First-Class Honours degree in English literature and education. After a short spell as a secondary-school teacher at Elgin Academy, Bissett was awarded a master's degree in English from the University of Stirling, during which time he edited a collection of Scottish Gothic stories, Damage Land (2001), and wrote his first novel, Boyracers. His stories were either short- or longlisted for the national Macallan Short-Story Competition four times between 1999 and 2002. His third novel, Death of a Ladies' Man, was published by Hachette Scotland in July 2009. In 2009 Bissett moved into playwriting: his first play, The Ching Room, was performed at Oran Mor and Traverse Theatre in March 2009, starring Andy Clarke and Colin McCredie. It was followed by Times When I Bite, or The Moira Monologues a "one-woman show" that Bissett has performed himself (at Glasgow literary festival Aye Write! in March 2009, at the Kikinda Short Story Festival in Serbia in June 2009, and at the Traverse Theatre in November 2009. In an interview with the Sunday Times, Bissett described the inspiration for the character of Moira Bell. "The voice comes from the women in my family, my three aunties and my sister, who are great storytellers and hard as f***,” he says. "If they were to go on stage and talk about their lives in their own voices, it would be acclaimed as a virtuoso performance." Bissett was also a regular performer at and co-organiser of Glasgow spoken word night Discombobulate .