Andrew Greig

Andrew Greig is a Scottish writer and performer, author of 20 books of poetry, non-fiction and novels. He has been writer-in-residence at Glasgow and Edinburgh universities, and Scottish Arts Council Canadian exchange fellow. Due to a misunderstanding of the metaphorical nature of his book-length climbing poem Men on Ice (Canongate, 1977), he was invited to join the 1984 Mustagh Tower (Karakoram Himalayas) expedition. Summit Fever (Hutchinson, 1985), his account of this, was shortlisted for the Boardman Tasker award for mountaineering literature, as was Kingdoms of Experience: Everest, the unclimbed ridge (Hutchinson, 1986).

His first novel Electric Brae (Canongate, 1992) was shortlisted for the McVitie’s prize for Scottish writer of the year. His fifth novel In Another Light (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2004) won the 2004 Saltire Society Scottish book of the year award. Preferred Lies: a journey to the heart of Scottish golf (Faber, 2006), an investigation into golf, Scotland, convalescence, transience and friendship and golfing Buddhists, was shortlisted for the William Hill 2006 sports book of the year award. It was followed by another cross-category book At the Loch of the Green Corrie (Quercus, 2010).

Of his nine collections of poetry, the latest are Getting Higher: complete mountain poems (Birlinn, 2011), Found at Sea (Polygon, 2013) and As Though We Were Flying (Bloodaxe, 2011). A full-time writer, he is married to novelist, Lesley Glaister, and lives in Edinburgh and Orkney, where he plays guitar and banjo as often as allowed.