I grew up in a place where everybody was a storyteller, but nobody wrote. It was that kind of Celtic, storytelling tradition: everybody would have a story at the pub or at parties, even at the clubs and raves.

He generally ignores the traditional conventions of literary Scots used for example by Allan Ramsay Robert Fergusson Robert Burns Robert Louis Stevenson and James Orr. Trainspotting Marabou Filth and Ecstasy. Welsh has directed several short films for bands.

He has also written plays screenplays and directed several short films. Irvine Welsh (born 27 September 1958) is a Scottish novelist playwright and short story writer.