Not Not While the Giro

‘His novels and stories alike are marked by wild wit, ingenious flights of fancy and a leveller faith in the power of the common person to take charge of his or her destiny in the face of even the worst afflictions.’ – Sunday Telegraph

‘A very disturbing book and a very distinguished one.’ – The Scotsman

‘Acid, only half a page long, is an uppercut of a story.’ – Bernard MacLaverty

Not Not While The Giro is James Kelman’s first major collection of short stories – originally published by Polygon in 1983. The reader follows the lives of young men, social misfits, whose lives are spent waiting – waiting for their next giro or menial job – in the pub, the dole office, the snooker table and the greyhound track.

This collection, written with irony and great tenderness, confirmed James Kelman’s status as one of the most significant writers in the UK, and remains as powerful, relevant and truthful as it was in the early 1980s.

James Kelman was born in Glasgow in 1946. After leaving school at 15 he worked in the printing industry and as a bus driver. In 1971 he attended creative writing night classes and in 1973 an American company published his first collection of short stories, An Old Pub Near The Angel. Greyhound for Breakfast won the 1987 Cheltenham Prize; A Disaffection won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize; How Late It Was, How Late won the 1994 Booker Prize amidst a storm of controversy. He has also written many plays for stage and radio. He lives in Glasgow with his wife and family.