Leith-born Irvine Welsh is one of Scotland’s most popular authors, having short to fame with his debut novel Trainspotting in 1993.
He published his 14th novel, Resolution, earlier this year and has also written, or co-written, a further six books of short stories, 10 screeplays and three stage plays.
Many of his books have been turned into films, including two Trainspotting movies, Filth, The Acid House and Ecstasy.
And when he’s not writing he’s also dabbled in directing and is an in-demand DJ.
To mark his 66th birthday, which he celebrated today (September 27) here are a few words of wisdom from the man himself.
9. Irvine Welsh on...class and writing
"Basically, particularly in Britain, it's a hegemonic thing that people who write tend to come from the leisure classes. They can afford the time and the books." | Getty Images
10. Irvine Welsh on...writing in the Scottish dialect
"When I started off with Trainspotting, it was the way the characters came to me. That's how they sounded to me. It seemed pretentious to sound any other way. I wasn't making any kind of political statement." | Getty Images
11. Irvine Welsh on...being part part of the underground
"Underground people pay a desperate toll finding out things nobody else has discovered yet. We run around like headless chickens looking for the next cultural fix to spiral around in before it gets appropriated somewhere else and becomes something it never was. There's this sort of one-upmanship in the underground." | Getty Images
12. Irvine Welsh on...politics
"A lot of people pulled me up after 'Trainspotting' for its absence of politics, but the argument I make is that the absence of politics is political as well." | Getty Images