ŷ������

25 years ago, THE CROW ROAD first found its way into readers' hands.

From its bravura opening onwards, THE CROW ROAD is justly regarded as an outstanding contemporary novel.

'It was the day my grandmother exploded. I sat in the crematorium, listening to my Uncle Hamish quietly snoring in harmony to Bach's Mass in B Minor, and I reflected that it always seemed to be death that drew me back to Gallanach.'

Prentice McHoan has returned to the bosom of his complex but enduring Scottish family. Full of questions about the McHoan past, present and future, he is also deeply preoccupied: mainly with death, sex, drink, God and illegal substances...

On 2nd November, Abacus will publish a special anniversary edition of The Crow Road. Available from all good retailers.

Iain Banks the literary novelist and Iain M. Banks the science-fiction writer are too well known to need introduction, but Iain Banks the poet has hitherto been almost undetected. A single poem, ��041��, published in a poetry magazine; two poems (‘“Slight Mechanical Destruction”�� and ‘Zakalwe’s Song��) book-ending Use of Weapons; some lines from ‘Feu de Joie�� (which he excluded from this collection) embedded in The Crow Road (and with much more of its content saturating A Song of Stone) have been his only publications. But he took his poetry seriously and worked on it carefully, though he shared the results (about which he had no false modesty) mainly with friends.

As can be seen from the dates, Iain started writing poetry almost as soon as he arrived in high school, and continued until 1981. Why he stopped I can only speculate. The manuscript �� handwritten, contents-listed, page-numbered �� of the collection, characteristically titled poems where the heart is, from which he selected (and sometimes slightly but significantly revised) the poems here, has something of a sense of completion.

Readers of Banks’s prose will find in these poems many aspects of his writing with which they’re already familiar: a humane and materialist sensibility, an unflinching stare at the damage people can do to each other, a warm appreciation of the joy they can give to each other, a revel in language, a geologically informed gaze on land and sea,a continued meditation on what it means for us to be mortal embodied minds with a fleeting but consequent existence between abysses of deep time.

I too started writing poems in high school, and I’ve continued to write them, on and off, since. Only ‘Faith as a Grain of Poppy Seed�� has been published in a poetry magazine; others have appeared in publications of various science-fiction communities and conventions, and one, ‘Erosion��, was included in the text of my novel Intrusion.

Some time in 2012, well before he had any inkling of his illness, Iain said to me that he wanted to see his poems and mine published, preferably together. I demurred; he insisted, and I agreed. He had the risible notion that my poems would provide his with some kind of covering fire. I think the truth is quite the reverse, but in defence of my works�� inclusion I can say that �� because over the years we read and discussed each other’s poems �� there is an element of dialogue and evidence of mutual influence.

He continued to work on this project during his illness. A few final revisions to a handful of poems were only found after Iain’s death, and I’ve incorporated them here. For finding the final corrections and the original manuscripts, and for much else, I thank Adele.

Ken MacLeod,

2014

Hi

Today sees the publication of a collection of poetry by Iain and his great friend Ken MacLeod. It would also have been Iain’s birthday, and it seemed fitting to release the book on a celebration day.

It’s very difficult to be sitting here with a new book of Iain’s that he’ll never see. But as sad as that is, Ken and I both think the book looks and feels lovely and we’re sure that Iain would have been really chuffed with how it’s turned out. We hope you love it, too.

Iain was always a huge fan of his fans and I hope that any fan of his fiction or science-fiction, or even anyone discovering him through this collection will find much to love both in his poetry and in Ken’s.

Iain loved the discipline and detail of writing poetry and the reading of it directly influenced elements of his fiction. In a 2010 interview in Structo magazine, Iain talked about TS Eliot’s poem ‘The Waste Land�� and said “I love the poem. I’m not a great fan of what he stood for in terms of his politics and so on, but I think he was a genius, and ‘The Waste Land�� is simply my favourite poem of the twentieth-century. I remember, maybe the first time I read it, the words ‘Consider Phlebas�� jumped out at me, and just said, ‘title��. I don’t know why, but I made a note of it then and there, and that would be back in high school. Then re-reading it while trying to think up titles for the next book, I thought it would be nice to try to use another title inside ‘The Waste Land��.��

If you don’t know the poem, you can read it in full

Please check out Ken’s pieces and interviews in the Sunday Times, BBC Radio 4 Front Row, BBC Radio Scotland, the Grauniad, Newsweek and doubtless many others �� he’s a wonderful writer, both of poetry and science fiction.

I too was asked to give interviews around the launch of this book but chose to write this instead.

I do want to share one thing, though, in case you don’t already know. In the dark weeks following Iain’s death I received an email from Dr José Luis Galache (an Astronomer at the Minor Planet Center) which took my breath away. He did an amazing thing, and you can read all about it

It was an unexpected and surprising comfort, as were the hundreds of messages that were left on Iain’s site following his announcement of his illness. In the end he did manage to read them all and neither of us had or has the words to fully articulate how much they meant and what a difference they made. Iain was so touched by the kindness expressed and so moved (and frequently delighted) by the stories of lives changed, shaped or influenced by his work.

It is a cause of huge sadness that this is the last new work of Iain’s that will ever be published but Iain never let a launch day go by without a celebration and I hope you won’t either �� it’s a grand excuse to raise a glass of something (accompanying curry optional, of course) �� and toast both the lovely Ken MacLeod, and my beautiful and much missed husband �� an honourable human being and an exceptional writer.

Slàinte Mhath!

Adele Banks

Starting at 3:33 pm on June 28th there will be a walk following Graham Park's route from the Iain Banks book Walking on Glass.

The date and time come from the book and the anniversary is on a Saturday this year. Gather from 3:15pm at the corner of Theobald's Road (south side) and Southampton Row (east side) near the old Central St Martin's site just up from Holborn tube station.

After following Graham's route from the book the plan is to head up Upper Street to visit more locations from the book and the author's life finishing after about three hours at the Hope & Anchor near where Banks wrote the first draft of The Wasp Factory.

Further information:

or [email protected]

Iain Banks's last novel, The Quarry, is out now in paperback.

The Quarry is the story of a dying man and his only son, six old friends, a missing videotape and a reunion in a crumbling house on the edge of a quarry.

First published in hardback and ebook last year, here's what critics had to say:

'A quietly incendiary piece of writing, at times heartbreaking, at other times really wonderfully funny ... a profoundly humane, funny and smart novel.'

Independent

'Wonderfully exuberant ... written with the life-enhancing verve characteristic of Banks's best work.' Scotsman

'His final novel is shot through with Banks's trademark humour, political engagement and hope' Louise Welsh, Times

'Infallibly entertaining'

Telegraph

'Banks's relaxed fluency - the direct, funny, unpretentious intelligence of his writing, which, along with his teeming imagination, made him perhaps Britain's best-loved major contemporary novelist.

Guardian

The Wasp Factory has been voted one of the top 50 books that help shape and inspire teenage lives the most, in a public vote held to mark World Book Day today. Thousands of adults and teenagers in the UK voted in the 'Writes of Passage' initiative, intended to create the ultimate list of 50 recommended reads for teens.

Adele Banks said "I know that Iain would have been flattered and delighted to see The Wasp Factory still enticing and thrilling readers a mere 30 years after its first publication."

The full list of 50 is split into the following categories:

Books that will change the way you think

Books that will help you understand you

Books that will make you cry

Books that will make you laugh

Books that will scare you

Books that will teach you about love

Books that will thrill you

Books that will transport you

World Book Day is celebrated in more than 100 countries worldwide with a main aim in UK and Ireland to encourage children to explore the pleasures of books and reading.

You can find out more about 'Writes of Passage'

Our much loved and admired author, Iain Banks would have celebrated his 60th birthday today, Sunday 16th February. To mark the date, Little, Brown is delighted to announce that in February 2015, we will publish a collection of Iain and Ken Macleod’s poems, edited by Ken.

Simon Pegg, a long-standing fan of Iain’s work, said this month:

‘Whenever I am asked about a favourite book, I immediately think of The Wasp Factory. Iain Banks�� beguiling novel is a funny, terrifying, beautiful piece of writing; a story told through the complex, compartmentalised thoughts of a calmly amoral, occasionally homicidal child, no more guilty of insanity than the questionable authority figures that surround this fractured youth. The Wasp Factory has stayed with me since the first of several reads and haunts me still, buried in my brain like maggots, the images appearing in my mind's eye like so many burning sheep on the horizon.

If I had only read this one book of Iain's and not devoured and enjoyed much of his other work, he would still be one of my all-time favourite authors.��

�� Simon Pegg, actor, comedian, screenwriter and film producer - February 2014

Many fans continue to leave messages and tributes to Iain on the set up by Iain’s friends.

Iain Banks' books account for two of the top ten books Scottish novels of the last 50 years as voted by the public.

As part of Book Week Scotland 2013, The Scottish Books Trust conducted a poll to find the 10 Favourite Scottish Novels of the Last 50 Years. Members of the public were invited to visit the Book Week Scotland website to choose from a shortlist of 50 titles compiled by author and literary critic Stuart Kelly in collaboration with Scottish Book Trust. The shortlisted novels were carefully selected in an attempt to reflect the depth and breadth of the journey Scottish writing has taken over the last half century.

by Iain Banks and by Iain M Banks were both selected.

You can see the full shortlist on the .

The Iain Banks forum has been the subject of a malicious attack, however we have no reason to believe any personal data has been accessed. We are currently investigating this and will rectify the situation as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience.

In recent months, the astronomer José Luis Galache at the Minor Planet Center put forth a request that an asteroid be named after Iain M. Banks. Sadly, it was too late for Iain to hear of it, but on the 23rd of June this was approved by the International Astronomical Union.

Asteroid Iainbanks now resides in the Main Asteroid Belt of the Sol system; with a size of 6.1 km (3.8 miles), it takes 3.94 years to complete a revolution around the Sun. It is most likely of a stony composition.

Read more about the asteroid on the , where you can also of its orbit around the sun.