Irvine Welsh is best known for his debut novel, Trainspotting, which was inspired by Irvine's own experience of drug addiction. The novel became an international bestseller and was adapted into the film by Danny Boyle, starring Ewan McGregor and Robert Carlyle. At the time of its release, the film was the fourth highest-grossing British film in history.

Irvine Welsh talks regularly at literature festivals worldwide. He is an inspiring speaker who will discuss his own creative process.

Irvine has written eight novels and four collections of short stories. His fiction is dominated by the subject of the working classes in the period spanning the 1960s to the present day. Within this, he writes about youth culture, recreational drug use, class divisions, council housing, sectarianism, hooliganism and the humour and prejudices of the Scots.

His latest novel, Skagboys (2012), a prequel to Trainspotting, charts a community life disintegrating as a result of drugs, AIDS, violence and poverty. He is also the author of Ecstasy (1996), Filth (1998), Glue (2001), Porno (2002) and Crime (2008). Filth is currently being made into a film starring Jamie Bell, James McAvoy and Alan Cummings and is due for release in 2012. A film adaptation of Ecstasy is also underway; a project by the acclaimed Canadian director, Rob Heydon.

As well as fiction, Irvine has written several stage plays including Headstate (1994), You'll Have Had Your Hole (1998) and the musical Blackpool. More recently he co-authored Babylon Heights (2006) which premiered in San Francisco and had its European premiere in Dublin. He has also collaborated on a number of other screenplays, including Wedding Belles, a film made for Channel 4 and aired in 2007, which won a Scottish BAFTA and sold to TV channels across Europe.