Editing Irvine Welsh

{{Short description|Scottish novelist (born 1958)}}
{{BLP sources|date=August 2018}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}}
{{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] -->
| name = Irvine Welsh
| image = Irvine Welsh 2004.jpg
| caption = Welsh at the 2004 [[Edinburgh International Book Festival]]
| pseudonym = 
| birth_date = {{b-da|27 September 1958}}
| birth_place = [[Leith]], [[Edinburgh]], Scotland
| occupation = Writer
| nationality = 
| alma_mater = [[Heriot-Watt University]] (MBA)
| genre = Novel, play, short story
| movement =
| notableworks = ''[[Trainspotting (novel)|Trainspotting]]'' (1993)<br/> ''[[The Acid House]]'' (1994)<br> ''[[Marabou Stork Nightmares]]'' (1995)<br/> ''[[Filth (novel)|Filth]]'' (1998)<br/> ''[[Glue (novel)|Glue]]'' (2001)<br/> ''[[Porno (novel)|Porno]]'' (2002)<br/> ''[[Skagboys]]'' (2012)<br/> ''[[A Decent Ride]]'' (2015)
| website = {{URL|http://www.irvinewelsh.net}}
| imagesize = 
}}
'''Irvine Welsh''' (born 27 September 1958) is a Scottish novelist and short story writer. His 1993 novel ''[[Trainspotting (novel)|Trainspotting]]''  was made into a [[Trainspotting (film)|film of the same name]]. He has also written plays and screenplays, and directed several short films.

==Early life==
Irvine Welsh was born in [[Leith]], the port area of the Scottish capital [[Edinburgh]].<ref>Scottish Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths.</ref><ref name=":0" /> He states that he was born in 1958, though according to [[Glasgow]] police, his birth record is dated around 1951.<ref name=":0">{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/1996/feb/04/featuresreview.review | work=The Guardian | first=Ron | last=McKay | title=Ron McKay: the real Irvine Welsh? | date=11 August 2002 | access-date=11 December 2016 | archive-date=3 March 2014 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140303005741/http://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/1996/feb/04/featuresreview.review | url-status=live }}</ref> When he was four, his family moved to [[Muirhouse]], in Edinburgh, where they stayed in local [[housing scheme]]s.<ref name=ir>[https://books.google.com/books?id=q5VKzzUUbBIC The Novelist] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803104219/https://books.google.com/books?id=q5VKzzUUbBIC&printsec=frontcover#PPA7,M1 |date=3 August 2020 }} ''Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting: A Reader's Guide'', by Robert A. Morace. Published by Continuum International Publishing Group, 2001. {{ISBN|0-8264-5237-X}}.''Page 7-24''</ref> His mother worked as a waitress. His father was a dock worker in Leith until bad health forced him to stop, after which he became a carpet salesman; he died when Welsh was 25. Welsh left [[Ainslie Park High School]] when he was 16 and then completed a [[City and Guilds]] course in electrical engineering. He became an apprentice TV repairman until an [[electric shock]] persuaded him to move on to a series of other jobs.<ref name=ir/> He left Edinburgh for the London [[punk rock|punk]] scene in 1978, where he played [[guitar]] and sang in The Pubic Lice and Stairway 13.  A series of arrests for petty crimes and finally a suspended sentence for trashing a North London community centre inspired Welsh to correct his ways. He worked for [[Hackney  Council]] in London and studied [[computing]] with the support of the [[Manpower Services Commission]].<ref name=ir/>

Welsh returned to Edinburgh in the late 1980s, where he worked for the city council in the housing department.  He then studied for an MBA at [[Heriot-Watt University]].<ref name="bbc.co.uk">{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/profiles/27h8d0xjjCVtTSnW5zbNF0V/irvine-welsh|title=Writing Scotland - Irvine Welsh - BBC Two|access-date=10 December 2016|archive-date=21 May 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170521121726/http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/profiles/27h8d0xjjCVtTSnW5zbNF0V/irvine-welsh|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Fiction==
[[File:Irvine Welsh by Kubik.JPG|thumb|upright|Irvine Welsh in [[Warsaw]], 13 March 2006]]
Welsh has published eleven novels and four collections of short stories. His [[first novel]], ''[[Trainspotting (novel)|Trainspotting]]'', was published in 1993. Set in the mid-1980s, it uses a series of [[Nonlinear narrative|non-linear]] and loosely connected short-stories to tell the story of a group of characters tied together by decaying friendships, [[heroin]] [[Substance use disorder|addiction]] and stabs at escape from the oppressive [[boredom]] and brutality of their lives in the [[social housing]] schemes. It was released to shock and outrage in some circles and great acclaim in others. It was adapted as a play, and a [[Trainspotting (film)|film adaptation]], directed by [[Danny Boyle]] and written by [[John Hodge (screenwriter)|John Hodge]], was released in 1996. Welsh appeared in the film in the minor role of drug dealer Mikey Forrester.

Next, Welsh released ''[[The Acid House]]'', a collection of short stories from ''Rebel Inc.'', ''New Writing Scotland'' and other sources. Many of the stories take place in and around the housing schemes from ''Trainspotting'', and employ many of the same themes; a touch of [[fantasy (genre)|fantasy]] is apparent in stories such as ''The Acid House'', where the minds of a baby and a drug user swap bodies, or ''The Granton Star Cause'', where [[God]] transforms a man into a fly<ref name="bbc.co.uk"/> as punishment for wasting his life. Welsh adapted three of the stories for a later [[The Acid House (film)|film of the same name]], in which he also appeared.

Welsh's third book (and second novel), ''[[Marabou Stork Nightmares]]'', alternates between a grim tale of thugs and schemes in sub-working class Scotland and a hallucinatory adventure tale set in South Africa.

His next book, ''[[Ecstasy: Three Tales of Chemical Romance]]'' (1996), became his most high-profile work since ''Trainspotting'', released in the wave of publicity surrounding the film. It consists of three unconnected [[novella]]s: the first, ''Lorraine Goes To Livingston'', is a bawdy satire of classic British [[romance novel]]s, the second, ''Fortune's Always Hiding'', is a revenge story involving [[thalidomide]] and the third, ''The Undefeated'', is a sly, subtle romance between a young woman dissatisfied with the confines of her suburban life and an aging clubgoer.

A corrupt police officer and his [[Cestoda|tapeworm]] served as the narrators for his third novel, ''[[Filth (novel)|Filth]]'' (1998). The main character of ''Filth'' was a vicious [[Antisocial personality disorder|sociopathic]] policeman. The novel was adapted to a [[Filth (film)|film of the same name]] in 2013.

''[[Glue (novel)|Glue]]'' (2001) was a return to the locations, themes and episodic form of ''Trainspotting'', telling the stories of four characters spanning several decades in their lives and the bonds that held them together.

Having revisited some of them in passing in ''Glue'', Welsh brought most of the ''Trainspotting'' characters back for a sequel, ''[[Porno (novel)|Porno]]'', in 2002. In this book Welsh explores the impact of pornography on the individuals involved in producing it, as well as society as a whole, and the impact of aging and maturity in individuals against their will. The book is set just after the opening of the new Scottish Parliament.<ref name="bbc.co.uk"/>

''[[The Bedroom Secrets of the Master Chefs]]'' (2006), deals with a young, alcoholic civil servant who finds himself inadvertently putting a curse on his nemesis, a nerdy co-worker. In 2007, Welsh published ''[[If You Liked School You'll Love Work]]'', his first collection of short stories in over a decade.

Welsh contributed a novella called ''Contamination'' to ''The Weekenders: Travels in the Heart of Africa''. Welsh, [[Ian Rankin]], and [[Alexander McCall Smith]] each contributed a short story for the ''One City'' compilation published in 2005 in benefit of the One City Trust for social inclusion in Edinburgh. In ''Crime'', Ray Lennox (from Welsh's previous work, ''Filth'') is recovering from a mental breakdown induced by occupational stress and cocaine abuse, and a particularly horrifying child sex murder case back in Edinburgh. The story takes place in Florida. 

Welsh's prequel to ''Trainspotting'', titled ''[[Skagboys]]'', was published in 2012.<ref name="timesonline">{{cite news |url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article3564500.ece |title=Prequel to chart Trainspotting characters' fall from innocence |access-date=17 March 2007 |work=timesonline.com |location=London |first1=Charlene |last1=Sweeney |first2=Lucy |last2=Bannerman |archive-date=13 May 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080513081522/http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article3564500.ece |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="guardian.co.uk">{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/jan/19/welsh-trainspotting-prequel-auction |title=Welsh offers chance to score a role in Trainspotting prequel |access-date=20 January 2009 |work=guardian.co.uk |location=London |first=Alison |last=Flood |date=19 January 2009 |archive-date=30 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150930181935/http://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/jan/19/welsh-trainspotting-prequel-auction |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article5581111.ece | work=The Times | location=London | title=My week Irvine Welsh A few punches to toughen up then Im Trainspotting again | date=25 January 2009 | access-date=5 May 2010 | archive-date=18 April 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220418010713/https://www.the-tls.co.uk/ | url-status=dead }}</ref> Set in Leith in the early 1980s, it introduces the ''Trainspotting'' characters and follows them as they fall into heroin addiction. Given as a series of linked short stories, the book is also interspersed with brief commentaries on contemporary British politics. In particular, the consequences of the destruction of industry in the northern cities are drawn for the young working class. His eighth novel, ''[[The Sex Lives of Siamese Twins]]'', was published in May 2014 and his ninth novel titled ''[[A Decent Ride]]'' was published by [[Vintage Books]] in April 2015. The latter work featured the returning character 'Juice' Terry Lawson (previously from ''Glue'' and ''Porno'').

Welsh's tenth novel, released in April 2016, ''[[The Blade Artist]]'', centres around a seemingly rehabilitated Francis Begbie now living in California with a wife and children.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/culture/books/irvine-welsh-to-publish-francis-begbie-novel-1-3925969|title=Irvine Welsh to publish Francis Begbie novel|first=Patrick|last=McPartlin|newspaper=[[The Scotsman]]|date=23 October 2015|access-date=10 December 2016|archive-date=3 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160803232405/http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/culture/books/irvine-welsh-to-publish-francis-begbie-novel-1-3925969|url-status=live}}</ref> It was shortlisted for the Fiction Book of the Year at Saltire Literary Awards 2016.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-37725523|title=Welsh and Kelman shortlisted for Saltire literary prize|date=2016-10-21|newspaper=BBC News|language=en-GB|access-date=2016-10-21|archive-date=19 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181219184148/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-37725523|url-status=live}}</ref>

A sequel to ''The Blade Artist'', entitled ''[[Dead Men's Trousers]]'', was released on 29 March 2018, and sees Mark Renton, Sick Boy, and Spud reuniting with Francis Begbie.

In 2021, a TV adaptation of ''Crime'' was launched in the UK on [[BritBox]] as a six-episode series starring [[Dougray Scott]] as detective Lennox. Welsh worked on the project with [[Dean Cavanagh]]. This was the first TV adaptation of a book by Welsh.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Pingitore |first=Silvia |date=2021-11-19 |title=From Trainspotting to the TV series of Crime: the Irvine Welsh interview |url=https://the-shortlisted.co.uk/irvine-welsh-trainspotting-crime-interview/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211120004924/https://the-shortlisted.co.uk/irvine-welsh-trainspotting-crime-interview/ |archive-date=20 November 2021 |access-date=2021-11-20 |website=the-shortlisted.co.uk |language=en-GB}}</ref> A second six-episode series has since been made and is currently available on ITV and ITVX.

==Film and stage==
As well as fiction, Irvine Welsh has written several stage plays, including ''Headstate'', ''You'll Have Had Your Hole'', and the musical ''Blackpool'', which featured original songs by [[Vic Godard]] of the [[Subway Sect]].

He co-authored ''Babylon Heights'' with his screen writing partner [[Dean Cavanagh]]. The play premiered in [[San Francisco]] at the Exit Theatre and made its European première in [[Dublin]], at [[The Mill Theatre Dundrum]], directed by [[Graham Cantwell]]. The plot revolves around the behind-the-scenes antics of a group of [[Munchkins]] on the set of ''[[The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)|The Wizard of Oz]]''. The production included the use of oversized sets with actors of regular stature.

Cavanagh and Welsh have also collaborated on screenplays. ''The Meat Trade'' is based on the 19th-century [[West Port murders]]. Despite the historical source material, Welsh has set the story in the familiar confines of present-day Edinburgh, with [[Burke and Hare murders|Burke]] and [[William Hare (murderer)|Hare]] depicted as brothers who [[Body-snatching|steal human organs]] to meet the demands of the global [[Organ transplant|transplant]] market.

''Wedding Belles'', a film made for [[Channel 4]] that was written by Welsh and Cavanagh, aired at the end of March 2007. The film centres around the lives of four young women, who are played by [[Michelle Gomez]], [[Shirley Henderson]], [[Shauna Macdonald (Scottish actress)|Shauna MacDonald]], and Kathleen McDermot. ''Wedding Belles'' was nominated for a Scottish BAFTA and was subsequently sold to TV channels in Canada and Europe.

Welsh has directed several short films for bands. In 2001 he directed a 15-minute film for [[Gene (band)|Gene]]'s song "Is It Over" which is taken from the album ''Libertine''. In 2006 he directed a short film to accompany the track "[[Atlantic (song)|Atlantic]]" from [[Keane (band)|Keane]]'s album ''[[Under the Iron Sea]]''.

Welsh directed his first short dramatic film, ''NUTS'', which he co-wrote with Cavanagh. The film features [[Joe McKinney]] as a man dealing with [[testicular cancer]] in post [[Celtic tiger]] Ireland. It was released in 2007.

Welsh co-directed "The Right to liberty", a chapter of the documentary film ''[[The New Ten Commandments]]'', in 2008.

In 2009, Welsh directed the film ''Good Arrows'' (co-directed by Helen Grace). It was written by Welsh and Cavanagh. The film is about a darts player who suffers from depression which causes him to lose his skill.<ref>{{cite web|title=Good Arrows|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1277947/|work=IMDb.com|publisher=IMDb.com, Inc.|access-date=29 July 2012|archive-date=16 October 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121016035359/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1277947/|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Themes==
As well as [[recreational drug use]], Welsh's [[fiction]] and [[non-fiction]] is dominated by the question of [[working class]] and Scottish identity in the period spanning the 1960s to the present day. Within this, he explores the rise and fall of the council housing scheme, denial of opportunity, low-paid work, [[unemployment]], [[social assistance]], [[sectarianism]], [[football (soccer)|football]], [[hooliganism]], sex, suppressed [[homosexuality]], dance clubs, [[freemasonry]], [[Irish republicanism]], [[sodomy]], class divisions, [[emigration]] and, perhaps most of all, the humour, [[prejudice]]s and axioms of the Scots.

[[Sam Leith]], writing in the ''[[Financial Times]]'', argues that: "Welsh's concerns are with sin and salvation, with the exercise of free will and with the individual soul. He's much more interested in [[teleology]] than sociology."<ref>{{cite web|title=Life choice|url=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/9eb99e7a-84e5-11e1-a3c5-00144feab49a.html#axzz1sQx0Wdck|work=The Financial Times|publisher=The Financial Times Limited|access-date=29 July 2012|author=Sam Leith|date=14 April 2012|archive-date=18 July 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120718202209/http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/9eb99e7a-84e5-11e1-a3c5-00144feab49a.html#axzz1sQx0Wdck|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Style==
Welsh's novels share characters, giving the feel of a "shared universe" within his writing. For example, characters from ''Trainspotting'' make cameo appearances in ''The Acid House'', ''Marabou Stork Nightmares'', ''Ecstasy'', ''Filth'', and slightly larger appearances in ''Glue'', whose characters then appear in ''Porno''.

Welsh is known for writing in his native [[Central Scots|Edinburgh dialect of Scots]]. He generally ignores the traditional conventions of literary Scots, used for example by [[Allan Ramsay (poet)|Allan Ramsay]], [[Robert Fergusson]], [[Robert Burns]], [[Robert Louis Stevenson]], and [[James Orr (poet)|James Orr]]. Instead, he transcribes dialects phonetically.

Like [[Alasdair Gray]] before him, Welsh also experiments with [[typography]]. In the novel ''Filth'', the tapeworm's [[internal monologue]] is imposed over the top of the protagonist's own internal monologue (the worm's host), visibly depicting the tapeworm's voracious appetite, much like the "Climax of Voices" in Gray's novel ''[[1982, Janine]]''.

==Personal life==
Welsh married Beth Quinn in 2005.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mattin |first=David |date=12 August 2006 |title=The Bedroom Secrets of the Master Chefs by Irvine Welsh |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/the-bedroom-secrets-of-the-master-chefs-by-irvine-welsh-411705.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240312103247/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/the-bedroom-secrets-of-the-master-chefs-by-irvine-welsh-411705.html |archive-date=12 March 2024 |access-date=12 March 2024 |website=The Independent |language=en}}</ref> They were later divorced in 2018.<ref name=":1" /> They had lived together in the [[Lake View, Chicago|Lakeview]] neighbourhood of [[Chicago]], USA,<ref name=":1" /> since 2009.<ref>{{cite news |date=26 January 2017 |title=Irvine 'Trainspotting' Welsh lives in Chicago and has a new project: a pop opera |url=http://my.chicagotribune.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-92429730/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200413224112/http://my.chicagotribune.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-92429730/ |archive-date=13 April 2020 |access-date=26 February 2017 |work=Chicago Tribune}}</ref> Prior to Chicago, he lived in Dublin.<ref>{{cite news |last= Welsh |first= Irvine |title= Irvine Welsh: In the past 15 years Dublin has gone from being Calcutta to Paris |url= http://www.independent.ie/travel/irvine-welsh-in-the-past-15-years-dublin-has-gone-from-being-calcutta-to-paris-1198978.html |access-date= 17 February 2012 |newspaper= [[The Irish Independent]] |date= 18 October 2007 |archive-date= 20 November 2007 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071120213300/http://www.independent.ie/travel/irvine-welsh-in-the-past-15-years-dublin-has-gone-from-being-calcutta-to-paris-1198978.html |url-status= live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last= Murphy |first= Claire |title= Author can't find buyer for his Dublin home |url= http://www.herald.ie/entertainment/around-town/author-cant-find-buyer-for-his-dublin-home-1599982.html |access-date= 17 February 2012 |newspaper= [[Evening Herald]] |date= 13 January 2009 |archive-date= 18 April 2022 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220418010715/https://www.independent.ie/regionals/herald/entertainment/around-town/author-cant-find-buyer-for-his-dublin-home-27898139.html |url-status= live }}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Hattenstone |first=Simon |date=17 March 2018 |title=Irvine Welsh: 'When you get older, it's harder to be a bastard' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/mar/17/irvine-welsh-when-older-harder-be-bastard |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181014091358/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/mar/17/irvine-welsh-when-older-harder-be-bastard |archive-date=14 October 2018 |access-date=14 October 2018 |website=[[The Guardian]]}}</ref> In 2018, he was living in [[Miami]], USA.<ref name=":1" />

In 2022, he married Emma Currie, an actor and sister of Scottish musician [[Momus (musician)|Momus]].<ref>{{cite web |date=10 August 2022 |title=Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh marries actress Emma Currie |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/irvine-welsh-instagram-scottish-danny-boyle-ewan-mcgregor-b2142612.html |website=[[Independent.co.uk]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Flockhart |first=Gary |date=11 August 2022 |title=Irvine Welsh: Trainspotting author marries former Taggart star Emma Currie |url=https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/people/irvine-welsh-trainspotting-author-marries-former-taggart-star-emma-currie-3801258 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220813003451/https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/people/irvine-welsh-trainspotting-author-marries-former-taggart-star-emma-currie-3801258 |archive-date=13 August 2022 |access-date=29 September 2023 |work=Edinburgh Evening News}}</ref>

In Welsh's early 20s, he was addicted to heroin for 18 months while playing in punk-rock bands moving between Edinburgh and London.<ref name=":1" />

Welsh is an avid supporter of [[Hibernian F.C.]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Irvine Welsh fears relegation for Hibs after poor start to campaign|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/49804807|publisher=BBC|access-date=1 May 2020|date=29 September 2019|archive-date=27 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190927174433/https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/49804807|url-status=live}}</ref> and of [[Scottish independence]].<ref>{{cite web | url= https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/jan/10/scottish-independence-british-irvine-welsh | title= Scottish independence will allow us to become more British, says Irvine Welsh | work= The Guardian | date= 10 January 2013 | access-date= 15 June 2021 |author=Press Association | archive-date= 16 June 2021 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210616043258/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/jan/10/scottish-independence-british-irvine-welsh | url-status= live }}</ref>

==Bibliography==
===Novels===
*''[[Trainspotting (novel)|Trainspotting]]'' (1993)
*''[[Marabou Stork Nightmares]]'' (1995)
*''[[Filth (novel)|Filth]]'' (1998)
*''[[Glue (novel)|Glue]]'' (2001)
*''[[Porno (novel)|Porno]]'' (2002)
*''[[The Bedroom Secrets of the Master Chefs]]'' (2006)
*''[[Kingdom of Fife (novel)|Kingdom of Fife]]'' (2007)
*''[[Crime (novel)|Crime]]'' (2008)
*''[[Skagboys]]'' (2012)
*''[[The Sex Lives of Siamese Twins]]'' (2014)
*''[[A Decent Ride]]'' (2015)
* ''[[The Blade Artist]]'' (2016)
* ''[[Dead Men's Trousers]]'' (2018)
* ''The Long Knives'' (2022)
* ''Resolution'' (2024)
* ''Men In Love'' (2025)

===Short story collections===
*''[[The Acid House]]'' (1994)
*''[[Ecstasy: Three Tales of Chemical Romance]]'' (1996)
*''[[If You Liked School You'll Love Work]]'' (2007)
*''[[Reheated Cabbage]]'' (2009)
*''The Seal Club'' (2020 co-written with Alan Warner and John King)
*''Seal Club 2: The View From Poacher's Hill'' (2023 co-written with Alan Warner and John King)

===Screenplays===
*''[[You'll Have Had Your Hole]]'' (drama)
*''Dose'' ([[BBC]] drama written with Dean Cavanagh)<ref>{{cite web|title=Irvine Welsh gives his friends a Dose|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2003/07_july/15/wales_dose.shtml|publisher=BBC|access-date=29 July 2012|date=15 July 2003|archive-date=4 October 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121004134555/http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2003/07_july/15/wales_dose.shtml|url-status=live}}</ref> 
*''[[The Acid House (film)|The Acid House]]'' (screenplay)
*''[[Wedding Belles]]'' (2007 film for [[Channel 4]] written with [[Dean Cavanagh]])<ref>{{cite web|title=Welsh's four women and a wedding|url=http://www.scotsman.com/news/scottish-news/top-stories/welsh-s-four-women-and-a-wedding-1-684000|newspaper=The Scotsman|access-date=29 July 2012|date=1 March 2007|archive-date=13 June 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130613194035/http://www.scotsman.com/news/scottish-news/top-stories/welsh-s-four-women-and-a-wedding-1-684000|url-status=live}}</ref> 
*''Four Play'' (a collection of his books that have been adapted for the stage)<ref>{{cite web|title=Theatre|url=http://www.irvinewelsh.net/theatre/|work=Irvine Welsh|publisher=The Random House Group Limited|access-date=29 July 2012|archive-date=23 July 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120723014424/http://www.irvinewelsh.net/theatre/|url-status=live}}</ref> 
*''[[Dockers (TV programme)|Dockers]]'' (1999 one-off TV drama for Channel 4, co-written by [[Jimmy McGovern]])<ref>{{cite web|title=Full cast and crew for Dockers|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0206691/fullcredits#cast|work=IMDb.com|publisher=IMDb.com, Inc.|access-date=29 July 2012|archive-date=2 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160402063912/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0206691/fullcredits#cast|url-status=live}}</ref> 
*''Nuts'' (2007 short film)<ref name="films">{{cite web|title=Film|url=http://www.irvinewelsh.net/film/|work=Irvine Welsh|publisher=The Random House Group Limited|access-date=29 July 2012|archive-date=11 July 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120711191716/http://www.irvinewelsh.net/film/|url-status=live}}</ref> 
*''Good Arrows'' (2009 film)<ref name="films" />
*''Bad Blood'' (2005 short film co-written by him, based on a section of the novel [[Trainspotting (novel)|''Trainspotting'']])<ref>{{cite web|title=Bad Blood|url=http://www.irvinewelsh.net/film/item.asp?id=16&t=Bad-Blood|work=Irvine Welsh|publisher=The Random House Group Limited|access-date=29 July 2012|archive-date=28 July 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130728170413/http://www.irvinewelsh.net/film/item.asp?id=16&t=Bad-Blood|url-status=live}}</ref>
*''Creation stories'' (2021 film)

===Theatre===
*''Babylon Heights'' (co-written with [[Dean Cavanagh]])
*''You'll Have Had Your Hole''
*''Performers'' (co-written with [[Dean Cavanagh]])

==Adaptations==
===Film===
* ''[[Trainspotting (film)|Trainspotting]]'' (1996)
* ''[[The Acid House (film)|The Acid House]]'' (1998)
* ''[[Irvine Welsh's Ecstasy]]'' (2011)
* ''[[Filth (film)|Filth]]'' (2013)
* ''[[T2 Trainspotting]]'' (2017)
* ''[[Creation Stories (film)|Creation Stories]]'' (2021)<ref>{{cite news|first1=Tim|last1=Robey|accessdate=2021-02-27|title=Creation Stories, review: cocaine, rock stars and a 'simpering' Tony Blair|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/creation-stories-review-cocaine-rock-stars-simpering-tony-blair/|newspaper=The Telegraph|date=25 February 2021|issn=0307-1235|archive-date=27 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210227162721/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/creation-stories-review-cocaine-rock-stars-simpering-tony-blair/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|accessdate=2021-02-27|title=Creation Stories: Playing Liam and Noel Gallagher 'is a gift as an actor'|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-55730195|newspaper=BBC News|date=24 February 2021|archive-date=25 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225221304/https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-55730195|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|accessdate=2021-02-27|title=First look teaser at Ewen Bremner's Alan McGee biopic is here|url=https://www.nme.com/news/film/alan-mcgee-biopic-creation-stories-first-teaser-ewen-bremner-2764590|date=29 September 2020|website=NME|archive-date=24 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210124100902/https://www.nme.com/news/film/alan-mcgee-biopic-creation-stories-first-teaser-ewen-bremner-2764590|url-status=live}}</ref>
* ''[[The Blade Artist (TV series)|The Blade Artist]]'' (TBA)

===Theatre===
Source:<ref>{{cite web|title=Irvine's plays and theatre adaptations|url=http://www.irvinewelsh.net/theatre/|work=Irvine Welsh|publisher=The Random House Group Limited|access-date=29 July 2012|archive-date=23 July 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120723014424/http://www.irvinewelsh.net/theatre/|url-status=live}}</ref>
* ''Ecstasy''
* ''Glue''
* ''Filth''
* ''Trainspotting''
* ''Marabou Stork Nightmares''
* ''PORNO''<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2022/aug/14/irvine-welsh-porno-review-gutsy-trainspotting-sequel-pleasance-courtyard-edinburgh |title=Irvine Welsh's Porno review – coarse and gutsy Trainspotting sequel |first=Mark |last=Fisher |work=The Guardian |date=14 August 2022 |access-date=2 July 2024}}</ref>

===Television===
* ''[[Crime (TV series)|Irvine Welsh's Crime]]''

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
'''Critical studies'''
* Aaron Kelly: ''Irvine Welsh.'' Manchester: [[Manchester University Press]], 2005.
* Berthold Schoene, ed.: ''The Edinburgh Companion to Irvine Welsh.'' Edinburgh: [[Edinburgh University Press]], 2010.
* Mark Schmitt: ''British White Trash: Figurations of Tainted Whiteness in the Novels of Irvine Welsh, Niall Griffiths and John King.'' Bielefeld: Transcript, 2018.

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
* {{official website|https://www.irvinewelsh.net/}}
* {{iMDb name|0920543}}

{{Irvine Welsh}}

{{Authority control}}

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