Josie Long, Rachelle Atalla & Sorcha Dallas on Alasdair Gray

We’re celebrating the wonder of writer, artist, Glasgow icon and cultural polymath Alasdair Gray - not for the first time, I grant you…

The annual Gray Day takes place at Glasgow’s Oran Mor on February 25th, and - among other things - it’ll be revelling in Alasdair’s masterpiece, Lanark, on the 45th anniversary of its publication…

Alan Bissett will perform another excerpt of his outstanding theatre work inspired by a photograph of Alasdair with Billy Connolly at the launch of Lanark back in the ‘80s - and there’ll be video contributions from Alan Cumming, who’s narrating the first full version of the Lanark audiobook.

It’s curated, as ever, by the Alasdair Gray Archive’s incredible custodian, Sorcha Dallas - honestly, she is a legend - and this year’s Gray Day is hosted by comedian, writer and broadcaster Josie Long, who’s always worth seeing live, and whose recent short story collection, Because I Don’t Know What You Mean And What You Don’t, is wonderful…

I sat down with Sorcha and Josie at the archive this morning, along with the brilliant writer Rachelle Atalla, whose unforgettable novels include The Pharmacist and The Salt Flats. 

Rachelle’s the recipient of this year’s Creative Commission, so she’ll read from a brand new short story, inspired by the work of Alasdair Gray - following on from the likes of Chitra Ramaswamy, Ali Smith, Denise Mina, Sara Sheridan and Michael Pedersen… 

Pour a coffee, pull up a chair, have a listen - and hopefully see you at Oran Mor on February 25th… Listen wherever you get your podcasts, or via the icons at the top and bottom of this page - or right here!