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Ian Rankin
Sir Ian James Rankin OBE DL FRSE FRSL FRIAS (born 28 April 1960) is a Scottish crime writer and philanthropist, best known for his Inspector Rebus novels.
Rankin was born in Cardenden, Fife. His father, James, owned a grocery shop, and his mother, Isobel, worked in a school canteen. He was educated at Beath High School, Cowdenbeath. Neither of his parents were great readers, but Rankin enjoyed comics such as the Beano, the Dandy, Superman and Batman, later progressing to books borrowed from the library.
Rankin was the first of his family to go to university. His parents were horrified when he chose to study literature, as they had expected him to study for a trade. Encouraged by his English teacher, he persisted and graduated in 1982 from the University of Edinburgh. There he also worked on a doctorate on Muriel Spark but did not complete it.
He has taught at the university and retains an involvement with the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. He lived in Tottenham, London, for four years and then rural France for six while he developed his career as a novelist.
Before becoming a full-time novelist, he worked as a grape picker, swineherd, taxman, alcohol researcher, hi-fi journalist, college secretary and punk musician in a band called the Dancing Pigs.
Rankin did not set out to be a crime writer. He thought his first novels, Knots and Crosses and Hide and Seek, were mainstream books, more in keeping with the Scottish traditions of Robert Louis Stevenson and even Muriel Spark. He was disconcerted by their classification as genre fiction. The Scottish novelist Allan Massie, who tutored Rankin while Massie was writer-in-residence at the University of Edinburgh, reassured him by saying, "Do you think John Buchan ever worried about whether he was writing literature or not?"
Rankin's Inspector Rebus novels are set mainly in Edinburgh. They are considered major contributions to the tartan noir genre. Thirteen of the novels—plus one short story—were adapted as a television series on ITV, starring John Hannah as Rebus in series 1 and 2 (4 episodes) and Ken Stott in that role in series 3–5 (10 episodes). Rankin has stated that the name of John Rebus was chosen partly in homage to fictional detective John Shaft, and because "rebus" is a kind of puzzle.
Rankin has spoken in interview of how the death of his mother led to his writing his Rebus novels. He says:
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Ian Rankin
Sir Ian James Rankin OBE DL FRSE FRSL FRIAS (born 28 April 1960) is a Scottish crime writer and philanthropist, best known for his Inspector Rebus novels.
Rankin was born in Cardenden, Fife. His father, James, owned a grocery shop, and his mother, Isobel, worked in a school canteen. He was educated at Beath High School, Cowdenbeath. Neither of his parents were great readers, but Rankin enjoyed comics such as the Beano, the Dandy, Superman and Batman, later progressing to books borrowed from the library.
Rankin was the first of his family to go to university. His parents were horrified when he chose to study literature, as they had expected him to study for a trade. Encouraged by his English teacher, he persisted and graduated in 1982 from the University of Edinburgh. There he also worked on a doctorate on Muriel Spark but did not complete it.
He has taught at the university and retains an involvement with the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. He lived in Tottenham, London, for four years and then rural France for six while he developed his career as a novelist.
Before becoming a full-time novelist, he worked as a grape picker, swineherd, taxman, alcohol researcher, hi-fi journalist, college secretary and punk musician in a band called the Dancing Pigs.
Rankin did not set out to be a crime writer. He thought his first novels, Knots and Crosses and Hide and Seek, were mainstream books, more in keeping with the Scottish traditions of Robert Louis Stevenson and even Muriel Spark. He was disconcerted by their classification as genre fiction. The Scottish novelist Allan Massie, who tutored Rankin while Massie was writer-in-residence at the University of Edinburgh, reassured him by saying, "Do you think John Buchan ever worried about whether he was writing literature or not?"
Rankin's Inspector Rebus novels are set mainly in Edinburgh. They are considered major contributions to the tartan noir genre. Thirteen of the novels—plus one short story—were adapted as a television series on ITV, starring John Hannah as Rebus in series 1 and 2 (4 episodes) and Ken Stott in that role in series 3–5 (10 episodes). Rankin has stated that the name of John Rebus was chosen partly in homage to fictional detective John Shaft, and because "rebus" is a kind of puzzle.
Rankin has spoken in interview of how the death of his mother led to his writing his Rebus novels. He says: