Mora Rolley

Alasdair’s younger sister. Well-versed in the joys and sorrows of growing up with ‘a necessary genius’.

What does Alasdair Gray mean to you?

Explain yourself?

Audio transcript

They go chronologically. As a brother he was infuriating. Absolutely! As I grew up to be a teenager, it was exciting. And in old age, it was love! So I think that’s why they come in that order.

He could always beat me with words. And being a physical person I would just lam out and thump him one. Because I didn’t know how else to cope with this person and the words. I mean that’s how he eventually got over the bullying at school. He got them by words. And I just found it so infuriating.

Exciting, now that was brilliant. Whenever I was a student I loved whenever he invited me to the Arts Ball in Glasgow - Glasgow Arts Ball. With the huge nudes and yellow painted piano… grand piano that he got into trouble with! So this was it. Yes, he was exciting at that stage. He wasn’t part of my very well-regulated life. So it was nice to be taken out of my well-regulated life. But I couldn’t have lived it!

And then loving… yes. I think as you get older you maybe appreciate family more. Or maybe it was because when he was in a wheelchair… I was the one that was making his dinner and... So maybe I felt I was being more use to him? Whereas whenever I was younger I didn’t feel I could contribute anything. So maybe that’s something to do with it?