Alasdair Gray was a Scottish writer, artist, and cultural icon whose work reshaped modern Scottish literature. Best known for Lanark and Poor Things, he blended realism, fantasy, politics, and visual art with bold originality. Fiercely committed to Scotland’s cultural independence, his writing champions working-class lives, imagination, and social justice, delivered with wit, invention, and a deep belief in the power of art to change how we see the world.