Alan Spence

Alan Spence (born 1947) is a Scottish writer and is Professor in Creative Writing at the University of Aberdeen, there, and much of his work is set in the city.

Spence is a poet and playwright, novelist and short-story writer, and has recently been commissioned by Scottish Opera to set words to a piece of music by Miriama Young.

His first work was the collection of short stories Its colours they are fine, first published in 1977. This was followed by two plays, Sailmaker in 1982 and Space Invaders in 1983. The novel The Magic Flute appeared in 1990 along with his first book of poetry Glasgow Zen. In 1991, another of his plays, Changed Days, was published before a brief hiatus.

He returned in 1996 with Stone Garden, another collection of short stories.

In 2006, The Pure Land, a historical novel set in Japan, was published by Canongate Books,

In 2026 Sailmaker was revived by The Gaiety Theatre, Ayr, and toured Scotland.

Directed by Liz Carruthers; Lighting Design by Wayne Dowdeswelll; Sound Design & Original Score by Gary Cameron; Set & Costume Design by Claire Halleran Cast: Davie (father): Andy Clark; Uncle Billy: Paul J Corrigan; Alec (son): Alexander Tait; Ian (cousin): Lewis Kerr

Alan Spence is a member of the Edinburgh Sri Chinmoy Centre and practises meditation. 2018: Order of the Rising Sun.