Lewis Grassic Gibbon

Lewis Grassic Gibbon was born James Leslie Mitchell in 1901 in Aberdeenshire and grew up in Arbuthnott in the Mearns. His masterpiece trilogy, A Scots Quair, is familiar to most people in Scotland while Sunset Song was voted the Top Scottish book in a recent poll.

Mitchell began his working life as a journalist in Aberdeen and Glasgow. He did not prove to be a success in that profession and joined the Forces, combining his working life with writing. He was a prolific writer with over seventeen books published between 1928-34: short stories, non-fiction, fiction and science fiction.

He died tragically young in 1935 in Welwyn Garden City.

His works are now gradually being republished in their entirety and with copyright lapsing on The Scots Quair, there should be a flurry of new editions in the next year or so.