William McIlvanney

William McIlvanney is widely credited as the founder of the Tartan Noir movement that includes authors such as Denise Mina, Ian Rankin, and Val McDermid, all of whom cite him as an influence and inspiration. McIlvanney's Laidlaw boks "changed the face of Scottish fiction" (The Times of London). His novel Docherty won the Whitbread Award for Fiction, and both Laidlaw and The Papers of Tony Veitch won Silver Daggers from the Crime Writers' Association. Strange Loyalties won the Glasgow Herald's People's Prize. McIlvanney passed away in December 2015.