Alasdair Gray will paint a picture of an independent Scotland. Picture: Robert Perry
Controversial artist Alasdair Gray is to publish a major new book setting out his case for Scottish independence in the run-up to next year’s referendum, The Scotsman can reveal.
Gray, 78, has signed a deal with publisher Canongate for a book which he says will “anticipate” how an independent Scotland should take shape.
The author is one of the most high-profile artists in the country to back the prospect of an independent Scotland.
Canongate yesterday revealed Gray’s new book was a work of non-fiction simply entitled Independence, set to be published next summer.
A spokeswoman for the Edinburgh-based publisher said: “It lays out Alasdair’s vision for an independent Scotland.”
Speaking to The Scotsman, Gray said: “I’m being helped by a very good researcher and a lawyer friend. It will be out well before the referendum.
“It will be laying out the situation in Scotland we have at the moment, the situation we will have when we get more independence, what is wrong with the current situation and what is hopeful about it.”
Gray, who was born in Glasgow, said he believed it was hard for artists to avoid the independence debate, but that they should not be “coerced” into stating their political views in the run-up to the referendum.
The author, whose previous works combine elements of realism and science fiction, added: “I don’t want anybody to get involved in a debate which they don’t think matters a damn.
“I’ve nothing against people who regard themselves as apolitical or unpolitical. In the Greek democracy such people were called idiots, that is people without ideas about how they should be ruled.
“I can understand people who take the line that ‘I’m quite comfortable about [how] we’re being ruled now and change will probably be for the worst so let’s leave things the way they are’.
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The author is one of the most high-profile artists in the country to back the prospect of an independent Scotland.
Canongate yesterday revealed Gray’s new book was a work of non-fiction simply entitled Independence, set to be published next summer.
A spokeswoman for the Edinburgh-based publisher said: “It lays out Alasdair’s vision for an independent Scotland.”
Speaking to The Scotsman, Gray said: “I’m being helped by a very good researcher and a lawyer friend. It will be out well before the referendum.
“It will be laying out the situation in Scotland we have at the moment, the situation we will have when we get more independence, what is wrong with the current situation and what is hopeful about it.”
Gray, who was born in Glasgow, said he believed it was hard for artists to avoid the independence debate, but that they should not be “coerced” into stating their political views in the run-up to the referendum.
The author, whose previous works combine elements of realism and science fiction, added: “I don’t want anybody to get involved in a debate which they don’t think matters a damn.
“I’ve nothing against people who regard themselves as apolitical or unpolitical. In the Greek democracy such people were called idiots, that is people without ideas about how they should be ruled.
“I can understand people who take the line that ‘I’m quite comfortable about [how] we’re being ruled now and change will probably be for the worst so let’s leave things the way they are’.
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