Des Dillon
Des Dillon
Official Site of Award Winning
Author Playwright & Poet
Des Dillon
Official Site of Award Winning
Author Playwright & Poet
Bio
Des Dillon is an internationally acclaimed award winning writer, born in Coatbridge. Studied English Literature and Popular Culture. Taught English. Writer-in-Residence at Castlemilk 1998-2000. Poet, short story writer, novelist, dramatist. Scriptwriter for radio and screen. Published in USA, Russia, Ukraine, Sweden, in Catalan, French and Spanish.
His novel Me and Ma Gal was included on the list of The 100 Greatest Ever Scottish Books.
Anthologised internationally. His latest award was The Lion and Unicorn prize for the best of Irish and British literature in the Russian language.
In the Press
Itchycooblue
It's Dillon's extraordinary language that makes the book such an exhilarating read... With every perception fed through that bizarre ability to turn even the most mundane detail into a never-before seen wonder... Itchycooblue artlessly recreates the world as an extraordinary adventure, there for the taking.
Big Issue in the North, Read of the Week
The Big Q (Monks)
The hardest part of writing novels about this part of the world is capturing the authentic cadences of West of Scotland speech. Dillon does it better than anyone since William McIlvanney... A tremendous energy
Glasgow Evening Times
My Epiletpic Lurcher
The book is very accessible, but written in an intimate idiom, or Dogspeak, the kind of secret language non-dog owners wouldn't understand. And, if they did, they'd assume, rightly, that all dog lovers are barking --Sunday Express- 9th March 2008
Sunday Express- 9th March 2008
Me and Ma Gal
Not since Ulysses or the work of Alain Fournier have I come across such a satisfying evocation of a single day, of childhood, of friendship, community and the world
George Gunn
The Big Q (Monks)
Not just about racism or bigotry or an antiquated sense of male power - Dillon wants to pummel language too, and religion and the identity of the individual into the bargain. That he holds on to the big questions without losing the humanity of his hero is a trick Dillon manages with a magician's dexterity."
The Scotsman
Me and Ma Gal
'A brilliant debut filled with ironic revelation.' -
'Quite simply, spot on' -
'Reminded me of Twain and Kerouac ... a story told with wonderful verve, immediacy and warmth'
​
'Ripe with humour and poignant vignettes of boyhood, this is an endearing and distinctive novel' -
Edwin Morgan
Big Issue
The Times
Singin I'm No a Billy He's a Tim
The sheer vitality of the theatrical writing - the seamless combination of verbal wit and raw kinetic energy, and the pure dynamic strength of the play's structure-makes... [Singin I'm No a Billy He's a Tim] feel like one of the shortest and most gripping two-hour shows in current Scottish theatre. And this show not only raises issues our society urgently needs to confront, but also attracts an audience that would never otherwise darken a theatre door; unless we count those big arenas at Parkhead and Ibrox, where such an important part of the national drama is still played out, week after week.
The Scotsman
The Big Q
Like James Kelman, he cloaks philosphy with slang, and like Alasdair Gray, his prose is disrupted by an imaginative use of typography... A funny and thoughtful book
The List
Scotland on Sunday
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