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Books

Blake, G, Shipbuilders. (1935), Faber and Faber. The definitive portrayal of Glasgow during the Depression.

Brookmyre, C, Quite Ugly One Morning. (1996), Little, Brown. First novel of one of Glasgow's most successful literary sons has received brickbats and blandishments in equal measure.

Friel, G, Grace and Mrs Partridge. (1969), Calder and Boyars. One of the best novels to come out of the 1960s by one of the city's greatest writers. A humorous portrayal of tenement life, and a lot more besides.

Galloway, J, The Trick is to Keep Breathing. (1990), Vintage. Debut novel which was on the shortlist for Whitbread First Novel.

Gray, A, Lanark. (1981), Canongate. Totally original debut novel which changed everything. It single-handedly raised the profile of Glasgow fiction.

Hanley, C, A Taste of Too Much. (1960), Hutchinson. An unprecedented perspective of life through the eyes of an adolescent boy on a council housing estate.

Jenkins, R, A Very Scotch Affair. (1968), Gollancz. Hailed as the Scottish Hardy, Jenkins put the city firmly on the literary map. This is still regarded as a highpoint in pre-1970s Glasgow fiction.

Kelman, J, How Late It Was, How Late. (1994), Secker and Warburg. Brilliant, Booker Prize-winning fourth novel of a literary giant who revolutionized Scottish fiction by writing not just dialogue but his entire novels in his own accent.

Kennedy, AL, Night Geometry and the Garscadden Trains. (1991), Edinburgh: Polygon. Another brilliant collection of mostly Glasgow short stories.

Mcilvanney, WM, Laidlaw. (1977), Hodder and Stoughton. McIlvanney explores Glasgow's seedy, criminal underbelly through the eyes of the eponymous police Detective-Inspector, who became as much a part of the city as Ian Rankin's Rebus has become a part of Edinburgh.

McArthur, A, No Mean City. (1935), Longmans, Green. Highlighted the violence and alienation of life in the Gorbals, the city's most notorious slum. This novel has, more than any other before or since, (dis)coloured most people's perceptions of the city.

McCrone, G, Wax Fruit. (1947), Constable. The matriarchal Bel Moorhouse is something of a prototype of the strong Glasgow women who would come to characterize many Glasgow novels.

Mills, G, The Beggar's Benison. (1866), Cassell, Petter and Galpin. One of the few novels which focussed on the problem of the city's notorious slums which mushroomed during the rapid industrial expansion of the late 19th century.

Spence, A, Its Colours They are Fine. (1977), Collins. Follows the path of a Glasgow hard man from adolescent delinquency to macho 'maturity'.

Torrington, J, Swing Hammer Swing. (1992), Secker and Warburg. The Linwood car-plant shop steward won the Whitbread Prize for his debut novel, which is set in the Gorbals of the late 1960s.

Glasgow on screen

"Glasgow's citizens are larger than life. They live life as though it was a movie…" So said one commentator on the city and he certainly had a point. Glasgow's gritty history, and the strong character and sense of humour of its people, has provided plenty of potential for film-makers in recent years – and the city has recently witnessed something of a renaissance in film-making. Although it must be said that films tend to focus on the darker side of Glasgow life – even comedies, such as Bill Forsyth's 1984 film, Comfort and Joy, which dealt with the city's famously violent ice-cream wars. Films set in Glasgow are inclined to have a hard edge, as if film makers cannot, or do not want to, forget the city's old 'razors and rivets' image.

It was the shooting of Shallow Grave in 1993 that really put Glasgow on the movie map. This film, in which a group of flatmates try to dispose of a dead body, was not only filmed on location in Glasgow but also launched the career of Ewan McGregor. It was a commercial and critical success and encouraged investment in more films set in the city. Since then there have been several films made in Glasgow including Small Faces (1996), The Slab Boys (1996) which was filmed entirely in a disused warehouse in the heart of the city, Ratcatcher (1999), My Name is Joe (1998) and Sweet Sixteen (2002), both directed by Ken Loach, and David Mackenzie's Young Adam (2003), based on the novel by Alexander Trocchi and starring Ewan Mcgregor, Tilda Swinton and Peter Mullan, who also starred in My Name is Joe. Other Glasgow films have included The Acid House (1998), the film adaptation of Irvine Welsh's novel, and Carla's Song (1996). One of the latest films to be set in the city is Peter Capaldi's Strictly Sinatra (2001), which stars Ian Hart, Kelly Macdonald and Brian Cox.

On the small screen Glasgow is probably most famous for the long-running TV detective series Taggart, in which the police deal with a seemingly inexhaustible number of grisly murders and brutal crimes. It has done nothing to dent the city's tough image.

The city's distinctive mix of flamboyant Victorian buildings, rundown high-rise flats, derelict industrial sites and acres of green parks and gardens, means that Glasgow is not only a suitable subject for a film, it also has plenty of suitable locations for film-makers. Regeneration, the First World War film based on the novel by Pat Barker, was filmed in Glasgow, and the Glasgow to Dumfries railway line featured – unlikely as it may seem – in the Hollywood blockbuster Mission Impossible. The city also doubled as Moscow in the 1983 film Gorky Park, while film crews on The House of Mirth (2000) used several places in Glasgow: Kelvingrove art gallery and museum was used as a train station, and the City Chambers became an apartment foyer. The City Chambers also featured in Heavenly Pursuits (1985); doubling as, of all things, the Vatican – which can't have pleased the 'blue-nosed' elements of the population, who still detest all things Catholic.

Glasgow and the Clyde towns have also produced an extraordinary number of famous actors. As well as Ewan Macgregor, there are people like Tom Conti, Kelly Macdonald, Alan Cumming, Daniella Nardini, and Billy Connolly – the comedian whose first big screen role was as Queen Victoria's devoted servant in Mrs Brown. Then of course there's Robert Carlyle, who has a string of big-screen successes like Trainspotting and The Full Monty, and Robbie Coltrane – who played Hagrid in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. With major stars like these, and any number of talented directors, designers and technicians based in the city, it looks likely that Glasgow will feature in plenty more films in the years to come.

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