Regi Claire

I am a novelist, short story writer and poet, a Swiss-born adopted Scot privileged to have known and worked with Alasdair.

What does Alasdair Gray mean to you?

Explain yourself?

Anarchic because Alasdair was a creative rule-breaker, a maverick, wild, fabulously inventive and imaginative, playful, mischievously, fiendishly funny, unpredictable, always in motion like a windmill whose arms threaten to spin out of control.

A Renaissance Man because he was supremely multi-talented and knowledgeable.

How did you get to know Alasdair or his work?

I first got to know Alasdair through his novel Lanark, which just blew my mind. I went on to read more of his work and met the man himself socially and at readings together with my husband, the writer Ron Butlin. In 2011, I was honoured to be asked by Alasdair to take part in the performance of his play Fleck.

How does Alasdair continue to influence or inspire you?

Alasdair’s example has encouraged me to write how and what I like, to defy expectations and to never conform.

Anything else about Alasdair or his work you’d like to add?

One of my abiding memories is an incident involving Alasdair and a wasp at a drinks reception outside the Scottish Poetry Library. We were standing talking with him at the time. I leave the rest to your imagination!