Irvine Welsh on toxic masculinity, addiction and softening with age

Changes with Annie Macmanus

Annie Macmanus

Society & Culture

4.6 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 7 October 2024

⏱️ 46 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

There are few writers more renowned for pushing the boundaries of modern fiction than Scottish literary icon and author of the 90s cult classic Trainspotting, Irvine Welsh.

Irvine grew up as a working class boy in Edinburgh surrounded by drugs, crime, poverty and unemployment. It was this harsh environment and the people he grew up around that became the influence for the literary worlds he went on to create. After a tough start to life, including being arrested aged 8 and later dealing with a heroin addiction, Irvine became a published author in 1993 aged 30 after he wrote Trainspotting a book that would go on to change his life forever. The book became a cultural phenomenon, catapulting Irvine into the public eye. Through all this, Irvine continued to stay grounded through his writing, becoming a prolific bestselling author whose novels reveal the uglier sides of society, exploring life on the fringes. His latest book, Resolution, came out in July this year, and is the final instalment in his CRIME trilogy which has now been adapted into a hit ITV series.

In this unfiltered conversation Irvine reflects on his early experiences growing up in Edinburgh and the tough lessons he learnt early on. He discusses how these have informed his work and shaped him as both a man and a writer. Annie and Irvine also discuss masculinity - how it has changed, the different iterations and perceptions of it, as well as the softening that comes with ageing, especially when it comes to his male friends and affection. Irvine is a true legend and we hope you enjoy hearing his changes.

You can buy a copy of Irvine’s latest book Resolution here: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/458494/resolution-by-welsh-irvine/9781787334755

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Changes is a deaf friendly podcast, transcripts can be accessed here: https://www.anniemacmanus.com/changes

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Transcript

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0:00.0	I want to tell you about a party. If you like dancing and you like good music, then you might want to know about before midnight.
0:07.5	That is the club night, the party that I've been putting on for the last few years.
0:11.5	And the concept was born out of me wanting to go out
0:14.8	and dance but also needing to sleep thus the whole premise is that these are
0:21.2	proper parties proper club nights, really good music, but the time parameters move earlier.
0:27.0	So they start around 7-8 and they always finish no matter what before midnight.
0:32.0	We did a big run of these shows this summer
0:35.8	which went really, really well and I wanted to let you know that we are going to be
0:39.7	taking before midnight on tour this winter and we're going back inside to dark
0:46.7	sweaty venues that I really love. We are going to be coming to Manchester Albert Hall, which is one of my favorite before midnight shows ever that I did last year
0:57.0	We're going to be coming there on the second of November. We're going to be in Belfast Mandela Hall
1:02.0	Doing two shows back where it all started for me,
1:04.8	where I used to sell tickets for Shine Night Club.
1:08.3	One of those are sold out, 16th of November.
1:10.3	You can still get tickets, so that's the 16th of November that's a Saturday and then we're in London at the
1:15.4	Oh two Brixton Academy on the 23rd of November I've played there a few times as a DJ I've put on nights there
1:22.0	but I haven't ever been there with
1:24.7	before midnight so I'm so excited to do that wave in that iconic venue that's
1:29.5	23rd of November at Brixton then next year we're gonna be in Ireland we're doing leisure land go away on the 15th of of March. There's another one the night before that sold out still tickets for
1:43.6	Vickers Street in Dublin on the 17th of March. To each and every one of you who have
1:47.7	showed up to before midnights over the last couple of years and made the
1:50.6	atmosphere so golden and so special thank you and I'm very excited to see you in
	...

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