Graeme Armstrong (author)

Graeme Armstrong (born 1991)[1] is a Scottish author best known for his debut novel, The Young Team. The novel won the 2021 Betty Trask Award[2] and Somerset Maugham Award,[3] and was Scots Language Awards 'Scots Book of the Year' in the same year. The Young Team is currently being adapted for television by Synchronicity Films. Armstrong is described by the The Times as 'one of the most admired young voices in British fiction'.[4]

Graeme Armstrong
BornAirdrie, Scotland
Alma materUniversity of Stirling
Notable awards

In April 2023, Granta included Armstrong on their 'Best of Young British Novelists' list,[5][6] an honour presented every ten years to the twenty most significant British novelists under forty.[7]

Biography

Armstrong was born and raised in Airdrie, Scotland.[8][9] As a teenager, he was involved with North Lanarkshire’s gang culture.[8] By age fourteen, he was expelled from Airdrie Academy and began attending Coatbridge High School.[9] Aged 16, after three friends died of heroin overdose,[1] he pursued a route of higher education and began to break away from gang life, following his reading of Trainspotting (novel) by Irvine Welsh.[10]

During his time in gangs, he struggled with drug addiction, alcohol abuse, and violence;[11] he "stopped taking drugs on Christmas Day 2012" and speaks candidly about having a Christian faith.[8] His experiences inspired his debut novel, The Young Team.[8]

Armstrong received his undergraduate degree from University of Stirling, a 2:1 in English Studies.[11] He returned to Stirling to study a Master of Letters in Creative Writing and graduated with Merit.[11] He is currently undertaking a PhD at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow[12]

Armstrong has worked with "Violence Reduction Unit and Community Justice Scotland, hosting workshops about crime and gang culture in schools and prisons."[9] In 2022, he spoke at the annual School Leaders Scotland conference and continues to work within the community.[13]

In 2021, Armstrong wrote and starred in a short film for the Edinburgh International Book Festival Infectious Nihilism and Small Metallic Pieces of Hope [14] directed by James Price.[15] Later that year, he presented a BBC documentary, Scotland the Rave with IWC Media, which was subsequently nominated for a BAFTA Scotland and Royal Television Society Scotland award.[16] As of 2023, he is currently working with Tern TV, a Zinc Media Company, to write and present a BBC documentary series based upon Scottish gang culture which is forthcoming.[17]

Awards and honours

In April 2023, Granta included Armstrong on their "Best of Young British Novelists" list,[5][6] an honour presented every ten years "to the twenty most significant British novelists under forty."[7]

Awards for Armstrong's writing
Year Title Award Result Ref.
2021 The Young Team Betty Trask Award Winner [2]
2021 The Young Team Saltire Society Literary Award for Scottish First Book of the Year Shortlist [18]
2021 The Young Team Somerset Maugham Award Winner [19][3]
2023 The Cloud Factory Granta Best of Young British Novelists Winner [20][21][22]

Publications
  • The Young Team - novel (Picador, 2020)
  • Billy the Kid and the KO at the Coral - novel extract (Gutter, 2019)
  • The Mad Hoose - from memoir (Stryvling Press, 2021)
  • My Head Teacher Helped me Choose Life - essay (TES, 2021)
  • Standard English is oor Second Language - essay (Literature Alliance Scotland, 2021)
  • The Jakit, Mysticism n PPK Resurrection - from memoir (Scottish Book Trust, 2022)
  • La Gang - Italian translation of The Young Team (Guanda, 2021)
  • The Young Team - Spanish translation (Automática Editorial, 2022)
  • The Cloud Factory - from memoir (Granta, 2023)

References
  1. Villalba, Juanjo (2022-12-21). "Graeme Armstrong: 'Nostalgia has its place but there is a younger Scottish generation, their stories matter'". EL PAÍS English. Archived from the original on 2023-01-29. Retrieved 2023-04-14.
  2. "Betty Trask Prize". The Society of Authors. 2020-05-08. Archived from the original on 2022-12-02. Retrieved 2023-04-14.
  3. "Somerset Maugham Awards". The Society of Authors. 2020-05-08. Archived from the original on 2023-04-13. Retrieved 2023-02-09.
  4. Wade, Mike. "Graeme Armstrong interview: 'Trainspotting was transformative: I thought, I'm involved in this world'". ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 2023-05-15.
  5. Schaub, Michael (2023-04-13). "'Granta' Names 20 Best Young British Novelists". Kirkus Reviews. Archived from the original on 2023-04-14. Retrieved 2023-04-14.
  6. Shaffi, Sarah (2023-04-13). "Granta reveals its pick of future star British novelists". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 2023-04-13. Retrieved 2023-04-14.
  7. "Best of Young British Novelists 5". Granta. Archived from the original on 2023-04-05. Retrieved 2023-04-14.
  8. Preston, Alex (2020-02-22). "Graeme Armstrong: 'When I stopped taking drugs, I felt a kind of loneliness'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 2022-11-28. Retrieved 2023-04-14.
  9. O'Neill, Christina (2021-05-18). "Graeme Armstrong on The Young Team and the moment that changed his life forever". GlasgowLive. Archived from the original on 2022-08-17. Retrieved 2023-04-14.
  10. "Ex-gang member and Young Team author Graeme Armstrong on the lonely road to redemption". HeraldScotland. Retrieved 2023-05-15.
  11. "Graeme Armstrong". Pan Macmillan. Archived from the original on 2022-10-02. Retrieved 2023-04-14.
  12. "Two Strathclyders on once-a-decade Best Young British Novelists list | University of Strathclyde". www.strath.ac.uk. Retrieved 2023-05-15.
  13. "Graeme Armstrong". Blake Friedmann. Retrieved 2023-05-15.
  14. Infectious Nihilism and Small Metallic Pieces of Hope (Short 2021) - IMDb, retrieved 2023-05-15
  15. Reading Scotland: Graeme Armstrong, Welcome tae Airdrie, retrieved 2023-05-15
  16. "Graeme Armstrong — News". Blake Friedmann. Retrieved 2023-05-15.
  17. "Writer who left life of violence behind to present BBC Scotland gang culture series". The Scotsman. 2023-04-05. Retrieved 2023-05-15.
  18. "Scotland's National Book Awards 2021 Shortlists". The Saltire Society. Archived from the original on 2023-03-15. Retrieved 2023-04-14.
  19. "Graeme Armstrong". Blake Friedmann. Archived from the original on 2021-10-31. Retrieved 2023-02-09.
  20. "Graeme Armstrong". Granta. Retrieved 2023-05-15.
  21. "Granta list is best Scottish result since 2003". HeraldScotland. Retrieved 2023-05-15.
  22. "Granta: Eleanor Catton and Saba Sams make Best of Young British Novelists list". BBC News. 2023-04-13. Retrieved 2023-05-15.
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