Author Biography | Interview | Books by this Author | Readalikes
Born in the Kingdom of Fife in 1960, Ian Rankin graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 1982, and then spent three years writing novels when he was supposed to be working towards a PhD in Scottish Literature. His first Rebus novel was published in 1987, and the Rebus books are now translated into twenty-two languages and are bestsellers on several continents.
Ian Rankin has been elected a Hawthornden Fellow, and is also a past winner of the Chandler-Fulbright Award. He is the recipient of four Crime Writers' Association Dagger Awards including the prestigious Diamond Dagger in 2005. In 2004, Ian won America's celebrated Edgar Award for Resurrection Men. He has also been shortlisted for the Edgar and Anthony Awards in the USA, and won Denmark's Palle Rosenkrantz Prize, the French Grand Prix du Roman Noir and the Deutscher Krimipreis.
Ian Rankin is also the recipient of honorary degrees from the universities of Abertay, St Andrews and Edinburgh.
A contributor to BBC2's 'Newsnight Review', he also presented his own TV series, 'Ian Rankin's Evil Thoughts'. He recently received the OBE for services to literature, opting to receive the prize in his home city of Edinburgh, where he lives with his partner and two sons.
About This Biography
This biography was last updated on 08/03/2016. We try to keep BookBrowse's biographies both up to date and accurate, but with over 2500 lives to keep track of it's inevitable that some won't be as current or as complete as we would like. So, please help us - if the information about a particular author is out of date, inaccurate or simply very short, and you know of a more complete source, please let us know. Authors and those connected with authors:
If you wish to make changes to your bio, send your complete biography as you would like it displayed so that we can replace the old with the new.
An Interview with Ian Rankin
In the past, there have been all sorts
of weird coincidences in the writing of your books. Any to share with us this
time around?
What usually happens is, I write about
something, and sometime thereafter it either turns out to have been true, or it
comes true. This time, I decided to take my plots from the pages of the daily
papers. I took two real-life pedophiles as the models for characters in the
book. And found out later that if you took the first name of one and the surname
of the other, you came up with the name I sued for the bad guy in my first ever
Rebus novel....
James Ellroy called your work
"Tartan Noir"...
I suppose he was right, too. My work's
nowhere near as dark as his, but it's not in the "cozy" tradition
either. A tougher Inspector Wexford maybe. That's Rebus.
Who are your favorite authors?
James Ellroy; Lawrence Block; Ruth Rendell. Novelists
with psychological depth, with 3-D characterizations, writers who challenge
convention and style. So stick Michael Connelly in there, too… and Paco Taibo,
Marc Behm, James Sallis, SJ Rozan….
What would you say is your special flair in writing?
How has your talent changed through the years?
My later ...
Benjamin Black is the pen name of acclaimed author John Banville, who was born in Wexford, Ireland, in 1945. His novels have won numerous awards, including the Man Booker Prize in 2005 for The Sea. He lives in Dublin. (more)
If you enjoyed:
Resurrection Men
Try:
Christine Falls
by Benjamin Black
Giles Blunt was born in 1952 in Windsor, Ontario, and grew up in North Bay, Ontario. He describes his parents as being "so English that the space on their passports for citizenship could only be filled in 'British... (more)
If you enjoyed:
A Question of Blood
Try:
By the Time You Read This
by Giles Blunt
We recommend 13 similar authors
The Tea Planter's Wife
by Dinah Jefferies
An utterly engrossing, compulsive page-turner set in 1920s Ceylon.
Darling Days
by iO Tillett Wright
A devastatingly powerful memoir of one young woman's extraordinary coming of age.
An irresistible love story for fans of Beautiful Ruins and Where'd You Go, Bernadette?
About the book
Blood at the Root
"A gripping, timely, and important examination of American racism."
- PW Starred Review
Visitors can view some of BookBrowse for free. Full access is for members only.
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends books that we believe to be best in class. Books that will whisk you to faraway places and times, that will expand your mind and challenge you -- the kinds of books you just can't wait to tell your friends about.
Subscribe to receive some of our best reviews, "beyond the book" articles, book club info & giveaways by email.
