lasdair Gray was born in the Riddrie area of Glasgow on December 28th, 1934. He graduated from that city's Art School in 1957, returning there the following year to teach until 1962.

Thereafter he found work as a scene painter in various Glasgow theatres before being appointed the city's Official Recorder, painting portraits of local dignitaries and celebrities. From 1979 to 1981 he served as Glasgow University's Writer in Residence.

Gray was a member of the Glasgow Group circle of writers in the early 1970s, along with Philip Hobsbaum, Liz Lochead, Agnes Owens, James Kelman and others. Although Gray had been working on what was to become Lanark since the late 1950s, it was advice gained from this experience which shaped the final form of his debut novel.

Lanark: A Life in Four Books was completed in 1976, but failed to find a sympathetic publisher until, in 1981, it was finally published by Canongate of Edinburgh. The impact was both immediate and dramatic. The enormous range and extraordinary form of the book led to a chorus of critical praise, and comparisons to (among others) William Blake, Dante, James Joyce, Aldous Huxley, Lewis Carrol, Dali, Orwell and even Hieronymous Bosch.

The subsequent 1982 Janine and award-winning Poor Things have served to cement Gray's reputation as one of the leading figures in modern literature.