Jeff Torrington (31 December 1935 – 11 May 2008) was a novelist from

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

in Scotland. His novels draw on the changing face of modern Scotland. ''Swing Hammer Swing'' (1992) was set during the demolition of the old

Gorbals The Gorbals is an area in the city of Glasgow, Scotland, and former burgh, on the south bank of the River Clyde. By the late 19th century, it had become densely populated; rural migrants and immigrants were attracted by the new industries and e ...

. It took 30 years to write. ''The Devil's Carousel'' (1998) drew on the decline of a fictionalised version of the Rootes/Chrysler car plant at

Linwood Linwood may refer to: Places Many of the place names for Linwood come from the presence of linden trees. Australia * Linwood, South Australia *Linnwood, Guildford, 11-35 Byron Road, Guildford, New South Wales Canada * Linwood, Ontario * Linwood, ...

. Torrington worked there for eight years, as a telex sequencer, before the plant's closure. ''Swing Hammer Swing'' was

Whitbread Book of the Year The Costa Book Awards were a set of annual literary awards recognising English-language books by writers based in UK and Ireland. Originally named the Whitbread Book Awards from 1971 to 2005 after its first sponsor, the Whitbread company, then ...

in 1992. Torrington's first published stories appeared in newspapers. He later attended a Paisley writers' group set up by

James Kelman James Kelman (born 9 June 1946) is a Scottish novelist, short story writer, playwright and essayist. His fiction and short stories feature accounts of internal mental processes of usually, but not exclusively, working class narrators and their ...

and a creative writing group in Glasgow associated with

Philip Hobsbaum Philip Dennis Hobsbaum (29 June 1932 – 28 June 2005) was a British teacher, poet and critic. Life Hobsbaum was born into a Polish Jewish family in London, and brought up in Bradford, Yorkshire, where he attended Belle Vue Boys' Grammar S ...

, which also included Kelman, Tom Leonard,

Liz Lochhead Liz Lochhead Hon FRSE (born 26 December 1947) is a Scottish poet, playwright, translator and broadcaster. Between 2011 and 2016 she was the Makar, or National Poet of Scotland, and served as Poet Laureate for Glasgow between 2005 and 2011. ...

Alasdair Gray Alasdair James Gray (28 December 1934 – 29 December 2019) was a Scottish writer and artist. His first novel, ''Lanark'' (1981), is seen as a landmark of Scottish fiction. He published novels, short stories, plays, poetry and translations, and ...

and

Aonghas MacNeacail Aonghas MacNeacail (born Angus Nicolson; 7 June 1942 – 19 December 2022), nicknamed ("Black-haired Angus"), was a contemporary writer in the Scottish Gaelic language. Early life Angus Nicolson was born in Uig on the Isle of Skye on 7 June ...

References

External links

Obituary: ''The Guardian''Obituary: ''The Herald''Obituary: ''Scotsman''Obituary: ''Times''
1935 births 2008 deaths Scottish novelists Costa Book Award winners Writers from Glasgow Neurological disease deaths in Scotland Deaths from Parkinson's disease in the United Kingdom 20th-century Scottish novelists Scottish male novelists Scottish short story writers 20th-century Scottish male writers {{Scotland-writer-stub