An Interview - Liam McIlvanney

Liam McIlvanney was born and raised in Ayrshire, Scotland. He now lives in New Zealand. His first novel, All the Colours of the Town, was published in August 2009 by Faber.

‘An authentic, atmospheric and ambitious debut. Liam McIlvanney nails it.’
- Val McDermid

‘Liam McIlvanney holds all the aces of a really vital young novelist … a brilliant study in the harsh, pawky affinity between those two majestic cities, Glasgow and Belfast.’
- Richard T Kelly, author of Crusaders

‘I read it almost at a sitting… smart, generous and compelling’ - Gordon Burn

‘With a bravura nod at classic north of Carlisle crime writing, All The Colours of the Town swaggers onto the Larne-Stranraer ferry and brings noir home. Razor-sharp prose and laser-sharp observation makes this a brilliant fiction debut.’ - Eoin McNamee

Q1. What are you writing at the minute?

Right now I’m trying to get started on the second novel. I’m still at the note-taking stage, but will be knuckling down to a proper writing schedule in a few weeks’ time. The book is a sequel to All the Colours in the Town, and features the same central character, Gerry Conway. I did plan to set the second novel in New Zealand (where I now live), but I recently had an idea that will keep Gerry in Glasgow for the time being. Maybe I’ll take him to NZ in a later book.

Q2. Can you give us an idea of Liam McIlvanney’s typical up-to-the-armpits-in-ideas-and-time writing day?

With three young sons and a full-time job, I write whenever I get the chance. Typically, I write early in the morning and sometimes last thing at night. I set a realistic target of 500 words a day and try to stick to it. I don’t really have time for writer’s block so I try to get stuck in straight away.

Q3. What do you do when you’re not writing?

Erm, see above. I also play the odd game of five-a-side footie and do a bit of ‘tramping’, as they call hiking in this part of the world.

Q4. Any advice for a greenhorn trying to break into the crime fiction scene?

Read a lot and write a lot. The two go together.

Q5. Which crime writers have impressed you this year?

I’ve been very impressed by Stuart Neville’s The Twelve. Great premise; brilliant execution: a top crime novel.

Q6. What are you reading right now?

Right now I’m reading Ian Rankin’s The Complaints, featuring Malcolm Fox, who looks like being a worthy successor to DI Rebus. I’m also re-reading The Big Sleep for the umpteenth time.

Q7. Plans for the future?

I’m planning to write at least three novels with Gerry Conway as the hero and narrator. After that, I’m not sure.

Q8. With regards to your writing career to date, would you do anything differently?

Nope. I’d do things quicker, if I could, but that’s another story.

Q9. Do you fancy sharing your worst writing experience?

I have my worst writing experience (as I imagine most writers do) every time I sit down in front of a blank screen. Then, if you’re lucky, the words trickle through and things start to look up.

Q10. Anything you want to say that I haven’t asked you about?

I’d like to say thanks for having me on your website. I’m a big fan of writers like Eoin McNamee and Brian McGilloway, so I’m chuffed to be getting a mention on Crimescene NI.

Thank you, Liam McIlvanney!

A Wee Review - All the Colours of the Town by Liam McIllvanney

Liam McIllvanney’s All the Colours of the Town is a welcome addition to the quality post-Troubles literature that has gone from strength to strength in recent years. McIllvanney puts Northern Irish Loyalist criminals under the microscope in this tale of a Glasgow journalist out for the scoop of his career. The novel has been labelled a thriller, for marketing purposes, I suppose, but to me it’s more of a thought-provoking literary affair. And a brilliant one at that.

What stood out, first and foremost, was the quality of the prose. McIllvanney’s eye for detail and masterful use of imagery brings a fresh light to everyday sights in Northern Ireland. It wasn’t action, tension or bloodshed that gripped me. It was the writing. And really, in any book in which almost all of the violence and skulduggery happens off screen (or off the page), the writing has to be of a high calibre to appease this crime fiction junky.

The book’s protagonist, Gerry Conway, is a very well-constructed character. Three dimensional, chockfull of flaws and mostly well-intentioned. Conway is a Scottish political journalist for The Tribune who has fallen into a rut in his personal and professional life. He’s unhappy and unfulfilled, and so, after a little lethargic reluctance, he fastens hard to the opportunity for change when it presents itself as an aged photograph of a gathering of Northern Irish terrorists. His journey is fascinating and ultimately satisfying to this reader.

Although I fancy this book as closer to literary fiction than it’s marketing-friendly thriller tag, it’s not all style and flourish. There is a very well-conceived and structured plot at the core. And there are some classic mystery mechanisms at play. My balance wobbled more than once as McIllvanney revealed a goodly number of twists in the third act.

Belfast, seen through the eyes of Conway, is both similar to and starkly different from Glasgow. Both cities share a lot of the same political and social problems but it’s when an unexpected incongruity hits Conway that the observations really shine. I was very impressed by how well McIllvanney presented a very real image of Belfast. Especially since he now lives in New Zealand!

All the Colours of the Town makes for an interesting counterbalance to Stuart Neville’s successful first novel, The Twelve. McIllvanney’s book is not quite an inversion of Neville’s study of the Republican hierarchy in Northern Irish politics and crime, but it’s as close to it as anything else out there. If you’ve enjoyed one, I imagine you’ll enjoy the other, even if they are very different in writing style and approach to the subject matter. McIllvanney is a top shelf wordsmith. His writing is smoother than a thirty-year-old single malt and just as mature. It’s hard to believe that this is a debut novel, for all the very right reasons.

No Alibis - What's Coming Up...

Unfortunately, I didn't make it to the Paul Charles event at No Alibis Bookstore last Friday. I welcome comments from anybody who made it, though. Meanwhile, I can still look forward to Paul's appearance at Lisburn City Library on Thursday 1st October at 8PM for a reading and Q&A for The Big Big Reading Group. Admission is free and all are welcome.

And although I missed out on that particular reading (and Liam McIllvanney's) David Torrans has a helluva lot coming up in the next few months:

James Ellroy is coming to Belfast!

Jack O'Connell will be at the shop in November (one of James Ellroy's favourite authors, dontcha know).

CWA winner Denise Mina is also booked in.

John Connolly will launch The Gates in early October.

And looking a little further ahead, Michael Connelly will return to Belfast in 2010 for another No Alibis event.

But wait until you hear this...

David recently had dinner with George Pelecanos. This crime fiction giant and TV writer for the hit series, The Wire, said, "David, I'm coming to Belfast," before David even had a chance to lay out his practiced spiel to persuade the man to come over. Apparently, Michael Connelly had been on the phone to Pelecanos after his successfull appearance in Belfast and sold him on the idea! Go Mr T!!!

You know what... if you're a crime fiction fan, you could do a lot worse than to get your backside to Belfast. Come on. Don't even think of it as a holiday. Move here. Houses are cheap enough right now. What's stopping you?

No Alibis Event - Liam McIlvanney

Liam McIlvanney

All the Colours of the Town

Launch Party and Reading

No Alibis Bookstore

Wed 26th August 7pm

When Glasgow journalist Gerry Conway receives a phone call promising unsavoury information about Scottish Justice Minister Peter Lyons, his instinct is that this apparent scoop won't warrant space in the Tribune. But as Conway’s curiosity grows and his leads proliferate, his investigation takes him from Scotland to Belfast. Shocked by the sectarian violence of the past, and by the prejudice and hatred he encounters even now, Conway soon grows obsessed with the story of Lyons and all he represents. And as he digs deeper, he comes to understand that there is indeed a story to be uncovered - and that there are people who will go to great lengths to ensure that it remains hidden.

Compelling, vividly written and shocking, All the Colours of the Town is not only the story of an individual and his community, it is also a complex and thrilling enquiry into loyalty, betrayal and duty.

Liam McIlvanney was born in Ayrshire. He is the Stuart Professor of Scottish Studies at the University of Otago, New Zealand. He won the Saltire First Book Award for Burns the Radical in 2002, and his work has appeared in the Times Literary Supplement and the London Review of Books. He lives in Dunedin with his wife and three sons. All the Colours of the Town is his first novel

THIS EVENT IS FREE AND TICKETS CAN BE RESERVED BY CALLING INTO THE SHOP OR BY EMAILING david@noalibis.com OR CALLING 028-90-319601

NO ALIBIS BOOKSTORE

83 BOTANIC AVENUE

BELFAST BT7 1JL

david(at)noalibis.com

ph. 02890-319601

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