Iain Banks

Short description: Scottish writer (1954–2013)

Iain Banks

Banks at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, 2009

Born| Iain Menzies Banks
16 February 1954
Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland
Died| 9 June 2013(2013-06-09) (aged 59)
Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland
Pen name| Iain M. Banks
Occupation| Writer
Education| University of Stirling (BA)
Period| 1984–2013
Genre|

* Science fiction
* Literary fiction

Spouse|

Annie Blackburn
(m. 1992; div. 2007)

[1][2][3]

Adele Hartley (m. 2013)

|  |

Iain Banks's voice

File:Iain banks bbc radio4 open book 23 08 2009 p00dh7qy.flac

from the BBC programme Open Book, 23 October 2009[4]

|

Website
iainbanks.co.uk

Iain Menzies Banks (/ˈmɪŋɪz/ (listen); 16 February 1954 – 9 June 2013) was a Scottish author, writing mainstream fiction as Iain Banks and science fiction as Iain M. Banks. His books have been adapted for theatre, radio, and television. In 2008, The Times named Banks in their list of the 50 greatest British writers since 1945.[5]

Banks began writing full time after the success of his debut novel The Wasp Factory (1984), which has since sold over a million copies and been translated into 80 languages.[6] The novel was named one of the 100 best books of the 20th century in a 1997 poll by Waterstones and Channel 4;[7] in 2016, it was ranked the second-best Scottish novel of all time in an equivalent poll by BBC Scotland in partnership with the Scottish Book Trust and the Scottish Library and Information Council.[8] His first science fiction book, Consider Phlebas (1987), marked the start of the Culture series, consisting of eight further novels.

In April 2013, Banks revealed he had inoperable cancer and was unlikely to live beyond a year.[9] He died on 9 June 2013, at the age of 59.[10]

## Contents

* 1 Early life
* 2 Career
* 2.1 Writing career
* 2.2 Radio and television
* 2.3 Theatre
* 3 Politics
* 4 Personal life
* 4.1 Illness and death
* 4.2 Remembrance and tribute
* 5 Awards and nominations
* 6 Publications
* 6.1 Non-SF works
* 6.1.1 Non-fiction
* 6.2 Science fiction
* 6.2.1 The Culture
* 6.2.1.1 The Culture reference books
* 6.2.2 Other novels
* 6.2.3 Short fiction collections
* 6.3 Introductions
* 7 References
* 8 Further reading
* 9 External links

## Early life

Banks was born in Dunfermline, Fife, to a mother who was a professional ice skater and a father who was an officer in the Admiralty. An only child, he lived in North Queensferry until the age of nine, near the naval dockyards in Rosyth, where his father was based.[11][12] The family then moved to Gourock due to his father's work.[13] When someone introduced him to science fiction by giving him Kemlo and the Zones of Silence by Reginald Alec Martin, he continued reading the series, which encouraged him to write science fiction himself.[14][15] Banks attended Gourock and Greenock High Schools. From 1972 to 1975, Banks studied English, philosophy, and psychology at the University of Stirling.[13][16]

After graduation, Banks took a succession of jobs that left him free to write in the evenings. These supported his writing throughout his twenties and allowed him to take long breaks between contracts, during which time he travelled through Europe and North America. During this period, he worked as an IBM 'Expediter Analyser' (a kind of procurement clerk), a testing technician for the British Steel Corporation, and a costing clerk for a law firm in London's Chancery Lane.[11]

## Career

### Writing career

Banks took up writing at the age of 11. He completed a first novel, The Hungarian Lift-Jet, at 16 and a second, TTR (also entitled The Tashkent Rambler) in his first year at Stirling University in 1972.[11][17] Though he saw himself mainly as a science fiction author, his publishing problems led him to pursue mainstream fiction. His first published novel The Wasp Factory, appeared in 1984, when he was thirty.[18] After the success of The Wasp Factory, Banks began to write full time. His editor at Macmillan, James Hale, advised him to write a book a year, which he agreed to do.[11]

His second novel Walking on Glass followed in 1985, then The Bridge in 1986, and in 1987 Espedair Street, which was later broadcast as a series on BBC Radio 4.[16] His first published science fiction book, Consider Phlebas, emerged in 1987 and was the first of several in the acclaimed Culture series. Banks cited Robert A. Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Brian Aldiss, M. John Harrison and Dan Simmons as influences.[19] The Crow Road, published in 1992, was adapted as a BBC television series.[20] Banks continued to write both science fiction and mainstream works. In 2004, Banks wrote Raw Spirit (subtitled In Search of the Perfect Dram), a travel book of Banks's visits to the single malt distilleries of Scotland in search of the finest whisky, including his musings on other subjects such as roads, cars and politics.[21]

Banks published work under two names. His parents had named him "Iain Menzies Banks", but his father mistakenly omitted the middle name when registering his son. Banks still used the middle name and submitted The Wasp Factory for publication as "Iain M. Banks". Banks's editor inquired about the possibility of omitting the 'M' as it appeared "too fussy" and the potential existed for confusion with Rosie M. Banks, a romantic novelist in the Jeeves novels by P. G. Wodehouse; Banks agreed to the omission. After three mainstream novels, Banks's publishers agreed to publish his first science fiction novel Consider Phlebas. To create a distinction between the mainstream and the science fiction, Banks suggested returning the 'M' to his name, which was then used in all of his science fiction works.[12][22] Banks was due to be a guest of honour at the 2014 World Science Fiction Convention, Loncon 3 but died the previous year.[23]

Banks book signing at the 63rd World Science Fiction Convention in Glasgow, August 2005

By his death in June 2013, Banks had published 26 novels. His final novel The Quarry appeared in June 2013, the month of his death published posthumously as his 27th novel.[24] His final work, a poetry collection, appeared in February 2015.[25] In an interview in January 2013, he also mentioned he had the plot idea for another novel in the Culture series, which would most likely have been his next book and was planned for publication in 2014.[26] Banks wrote in various categories, but had said that he enjoyed science fiction most.[27]

In February 2018, a project to publish Banks's unseen early drawings, maps and sketches from the Culture universe alongs with his writings and notes on the setting was underway.[28] In 2021, the delayed single volume of The Culture: Notes and Drawings was cancelled and replaced with two separate volumes: a landscape artbook of The Culture: The Drawings and a companion volume containing notes, excerpts and new text from Ken MacLeod.[29] The Culture: The Drawings was released on 7 November 2023, while the still-untitled companion volume was scheduled for late 2024.[30][31]

### Radio and television

Banks was the subject of The Strange Worlds of Iain Banks South Bank Show (1997), a TV documentary that examined his mainstream writing, and was an in-studio guest for the final episode of Marc Riley's Rocket Science radio show, broadcast on BBC Radio 6 Music.[32] An audio version of The Business, set to contemporary music, arranged by Paul Oakenfold, was broadcast in October 1999 on Galaxy Fm as the tenth Urban Soundtracks. Banks's The State of the Art, adapted for radio by Paul Cornell, was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2009 with Nadia Molinari producing and directing.[33][34] In 1998 Espedair Street was dramatised as a serial for Radio 4, presented by Paul Gambaccini in the style of a Radio 1 documentary.

In 2011 Banks featured on the BBC Radio 4 programme Saturday Live. Banks reaffirmed his atheism in this appearance, explaining death as an important "part of the totality of life" that should be treated realistically instead of feared.[35][36]

Banks appeared on the BBC television programme Question Time, a show that features political discussion. In 2006 he captained a team of writers to victory in a special series of BBC Two's University Challenge. Banks also won a 2006 edition of BBC One's Celebrity Mastermind; the author selected "Malt whisky and the distilleries of Scotland" as his specialist subject.[32][37]

His final interview was with Kirsty Wark, broadcast on BBC Two Scotland as Iain Banks: Raw Spirit, on 12 June 2013.[38]

BBC One Scotland and BBC Two broadcast an adaptation of his novel Stonemouth in June 2015.

### Theatre

Banks was involved in the stage production The Curse of Iain Banks, written by Maxton Walker[39] and performed at the Edinburgh Fringe festival in 1999. Banks collaborated frequently with its soundtrack composer Gary Lloyd, for instance on a song collection they co-composed as a tribute to the fictional band Frozen Gold from Banks's novel Espedair Street. Lloyd also scored for a spoken word and music production of his novel The Bridge,[40] which Banks himself voiced and which featured a cast of 40 musicians, released on CD by Codex Records in 1996. Lloyd recorded Banks for including in the play as a disembodied voice of himself in one of the cast member's dreams. Lloyd explained his collaboration with Banks on their first versions of Espedair Street (later versions being dated between 2005 and 2013) in a Guardian article prior to the opening of The Curse of Iain Banks:

> When he [Banks] first played them to me, I think he was worried that they might not be up to scratch (some of them dated back to 1973 and had never been heard). He needn't have worried. They're fantastic. We're slaving away to get the songs to the stage where we can go into the studio and make a demo. Iain bashes out melodies on his state-of-the-art Apple Mac in Edinburgh and sends them down to me in Chester where I put them onto my Atari.[40]

## Politics

Banks's political stance has been termed "left of centre"[41] and in 2002 he endorsed the Scottish Socialist Party.[42]

He was an Honorary Associate of the National Secular Society and a Distinguished Supporter of the Humanist Society Scotland. As a signatory to the Declaration of Calton Hill,[43] he supported Scottish independence.[44] In November 2012, Banks backed the campaign group emerging from the Radical Independence Conference held in that month. He opined that the independence movement was marked by cooperation: "Scots just seem to be more communitarian than the consensus expressed by the UK population as a whole."[45]

In late 2004, Banks joined a group of UK politicians and media figures campaigning to have Prime Minister Tony Blair impeached after the 2003 invasion of Iraq. In protest, he cut up his passport and posted it to 10 Downing Street. In a Socialist Review interview, Banks explained that his passport protest occurred after he had "abandoned the idea of crashing my Land Rover through the gates of Fife dockyard, after spotting the guys armed with machine guns."[37][46] Banks relayed his concerns about the Iraq invasion in his book Raw Spirit and through the protagonist Alban McGill in the novel The Steep Approach to Garbadale, who confronts another character with arguments of a similar kind.[37][46]

In 2010, Banks called for a cultural and educational boycott of Israel after the Gaza flotilla raid incident. In a letter to The Guardian newspaper, Banks said he had instructed his agent to turn down any further book translation deals with Israeli publishers:

> Appeals to reason, international law, U. N. resolutions and simple human decency mean – it is now obvious – nothing to Israel... I would urge all writers, artists and others in the creative arts, as well as those academics engaging in joint educational projects with Israeli institutions, to consider doing everything they can to convince Israel of its moral degradation and ethical isolation, preferably by simply having nothing more to do with this outlaw state.[47]

An extract from Banks's contribution to the written collection Generation Palestine: Voices from the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement, entitled "Our People", appeared in The Guardian in the wake of the author's cancer revelation. The extract conveys the author's support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign issued by a Palestinian civil society against Israel until the country complies with what it holds are international law and Palestinian rights. This commenced in 2005 and applies lessons from Banks's experience with South Africa's apartheid era. The continuation of Banks's boycott of Israeli publishers for the sale of rights to his novels was confirmed in the extract and Banks further explained, "I don't buy Israeli-sourced products or food, and my partner and I try to support Palestinian-sourced products wherever possible."[48]

## Personal life

Banks met his first wife Annie in London before the 1984 release of his first book.[37] They lived in Faversham in the south of England, then split up in 1988. Banks returned to Edinburgh and dated another woman for two years. After she left him, Iain and Annie were reconciled and moved to Fife.[49] They married in Hawaii in 1992,[37] but in 2005, after 15 years of marriage, they separated.[50]

In 1998 Banks was in a near-fatal accident when his car rolled off the road.[11] In February 2007, Banks sold his extensive car collection, including a 3.2-litre Porsche Boxster, a Porsche 911 Turbo, a 3.8-litre Jaguar Mark II, a 5-litre BMW M5 and a daily-use diesel Land Rover Defender, whose power he had boosted by about 50 per cent. All these Banks exchanged for a Lexus RX 400h hybrid – later replaced by a diesel Toyota Yaris, and said in future he would fly only in emergencies.[37][51]

Banks posing with a fan in London, 2012

In April 2012 Banks became the "Acting Honorary Non-Executive Figurehead President Elect pro tem (trainee)" of the Science Fiction Book Club based in London. The title was his creation and on 3 October 2012 Banks accepted a T-shirt inscribed with it.[52]

From 1991 Banks lived in North Queensferry on the north side of the Firth of Forth, in later years he was joined by girlfriend Adele Hartley, a horror writer who founded an Edinburgh festival called Dead by Dawn.[37] She first met Banks in 1989,[37]. In the early 2000s they began a relationshp and married on 29 March 2013[53] after he asked her to "do me the honour of becoming my widow."[9][54]

### Illness and death

On 3 April 2013, Banks revealed that he had been diagnosed with terminal gallbladder cancer and was unlikely to live beyond a year.[9] He stated he would be withdrawing from all public engagements and that The Quarry would be his last novel.[55][56] The dates of publication of The Quarry were brought forward at Banks's request,[57] to 20 June 2013 in the UK[58] and 25 June 2013 in the US[24][59] and Canada.[60] He died in Kirkcaldy on 9 June 2013, at the age of 59.[61][7]

### Remembrance and tribute

Banks's publisher called him "an irreplaceable part of the literary world". This was reaffirmed by fellow Scottish author and friend since secondary school Ken MacLeod: his death "left a large gap in the Scottish literary scene as well as the wider English-speaking world."[7] British author Charles Stross wrote, "One of the giants of 20th and 21st century Scottish literature has left the building."[62] Other authors including Neil Gaiman, Ian Rankin, Alastair Reynolds and David Brin also paid tribute in blogs and elsewhere.[63][64][65][66]

The asteroid 5099 Iainbanks was named after him shortly after his death.[67] On 23 January 2015, SpaceX's CEO Elon Musk named two of the firm's autonomous spaceport drone ships Just Read The Instructions and Of Course I Still Love You, after ships in Banks's novel The Player of Games.[68] Another, A Shortfall of Gravitas, began construction in 2018. This refers to the ship Experiencing A Significant Gravitas Shortfall, first mentioned in Look to Windward.[69]

The Red Virgin and the Vision of Utopia, the 2016 graphic biography of Louise Michel by Mary M. Talbot and Bryan Talbot, is "Dedicated to the memory of Iain (M) Banks, friend and sorely missed creator of socialist utopias."[70]

Empire Games, the seventh book in The Merchant Princes series by Charles Stross published in 2017, is dedicated "For Iain M. Banks, who painted a picture of a better way."[71]

On 13 May 2019, the Five Deeps Expedition broke the deepest ocean dive record in the DSV Limiting Factor.[72] The support ship was named DSSV Pressure Drop. Both vessels were named after ships in the Culture series, which is much admired by the explorer Victor Vescovo, also the financial sponsor behind Limiting Factor's design and construction. They also have landers named "Flere," "Skaff," and "Closp," named after Culture drones.[73]

## Awards and nominations

Iain Banks received the following literary awards and nominations:[74][75]

* 1988: British Science Fiction Association Award for The Player of Games (nomination)
* 1990: British Science Fiction Association Award for Use of Weapons (nomination)
* 1991: Arthur C. Clarke Award for Use of Weapons (nomination)[76]
* 1991: Kurd-Laßwitz-Preis for Foreign Novel The Bridge (winner)[77]
* 1992: Kurd-Laßwitz-Preis for Foreign Novel The Wasp Factory (winner)[77]
* 1993: Kurd-Laßwitz-Preis for Foreign Novel Use of Weapons (winner)[77]
* 1994: British Science Fiction Association Award for Feersum Endjinn (winner)
* 1994: Locus Poll Award for Against a Dark Background (nomination)
* 1996: British Science Fiction Association Award for Excession (winner)
* 1997: University of St Andrews honorary degree[78]
* 1997: University of Stirling honorary doctorate[79]
* 1997: British Fantasy Award for Excession (nomination)
* 1998: British Science Fiction Award for Inversions (nomination)[80]
* 1998: Kurd-Laßwitz-Preis for Foreign Novel Excession (winner)[77]
* 2001: Locus Poll Award for Look to Windward (nomination)
* 2004: Premio Italia Science Fiction Award in the Best International Novel category for Inversions (winner)
* 2005: Hugo Award for The Algebraist (nomination)[81]
* 2005: Locus Poll Award for The Algebraist (nomination)
* 2009: Locus Poll Award for Matter (second place)
* 2009: Prometheus Award for Matter (nomination)[82]
* 2010: Open University honorary doctorate[83]
* 2010: John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Transition (finalist)
* 2010: Locus Poll Award for Transition (nomination)
* 2011: Locus Poll Award for Surface Detail (nomination)
* 2013: Honorary Fellow of the Association for Scottish Literary Studies[84]

## Publications

### Non-SF works

Banks's non-SF work comprises fourteen novels and one non-fiction book. Many of his novels contain elements of autobiography,[85] and feature various locations in his native Scotland.[86] ====Fiction====

* The Wasp Factory (1984). London: Macmillan. ISBN 0-333-36380-9.
* Walking on Glass (1985). London: Macmillan. ISBN 0-333-37986-1.
* The Bridge (1986). London: Macmillan. ISBN 0-333-41285-0.
* Espedair Street (1987). London: Macmillan. ISBN 0-333-44916-9. Adapted for BBC radio in 1998 (directed by Dave Batchelor).
* Canal Dreams (1989). London: Macmillan. ISBN 0-333-51768-7.
* The Crow Road (1992). London: Scribners. ISBN 0-356-20652-1. Adapted for BBC TV in 1996 (directed by Gavin Millar).
* Complicity (1993). London: Little, Brown Book Group. ISBN 0-316-90688-3. Filmed in 2000 (directed by Gavin Millar); retitled Retribution for its US DVD/video release.
* Whit (1995). London: Little, Brown Book Group. ISBN 0-316-91436-3 .
* A Song of Stone (1997). London: Abacus. ISBN 0-316-64016-6.
* The Business (1999). London: Little, Brown Book Group. ISBN 0-316-64844-2.
* Dead Air (2002). London: Little, Brown Book Group. ISBN 0-316-86054-9.
* The Steep Approach to Garbadale (2007). London: Little, Brown Book Group. ISBN 978-0-316-73105-8.
* Stonemouth (2012). London: Little, Brown Book Group. ISBN 978-1-4087-0250-5. Adapted for BBC TV for broadcast in 2015 (directed by Charles Martin).[87]
* The Quarry (2013). London: Little, Brown Book Group. ISBN 978-1-4087-0394-6.

#### Non-fiction

* Raw Spirit (2003). London: Century. ISBN 1-84413-195-5 – a travelogue of Scotland and its whisky distilleries.
* Poems (with Ken MacLeod) (2015). London: Little, Brown Group. ISBN 978-1-4087-0587-2.

### Science fiction

Banks wrote thirteen SF novels, nine of which were part of the Culture series, and a short story collection called The State of the Art (1991), which includes some stories set in the same universe. These works focus upon characters that are usually on the margins of the Culture, a post-scarcity anarchist utopia.[88] In the same universe are other civilizations, which the Culture sometimes attempts to influence or "contact", occasionally resulting in conflict.[89] The culture has achieved utopia by handing control of all of their worlds and ships over to sentient artificial intelligences referred to as "Minds".[88]

#### The Culture

1. Consider Phlebas (1987). London: Macmillan. ISBN 0-333-44138-9
2. The Player of Games (1988). London: Macmillan. ISBN 0-333-47110-5
3. The State of the Art novella (1989). Willimantic,CT: Ziesing. ISBN 0-929480-06-6 – also included below in short fiction collections, but included here because it is considered part of the Culture series.[90]
4. Use of Weapons (1990). London: Orbit. ISBN 0-356-19160-5
5. Excession (1996). London: Orbit. ISBN 1-85723-394-8
6. Inversions (1998). London: Orbit. ISBN 1-85723-626-2
7. Look to Windward (2000). London: Orbit. ISBN 1-85723-969-5
8. Matter (2008). London: Orbit. ISBN 978-1-84149-417-3
9. Surface Detail (2010). London: Orbit. ISBN 978-1-84149-893-5
10. The Hydrogen Sonata (2012). London: Orbit. ISBN 978-0-356-50150-5

##### The Culture reference books

* The Culture: The Drawings (2023). London: Orbit. ISBN 978-0-356-51942-5

#### Other novels

* Against a Dark Background (1993). London: Orbit. ISBN 1-85723-031-0
* Feersum Endjinn (1994). London: Orbit. ISBN 1-85723-235-6
* The Algebraist (2004). London: Orbit. ISBN 1-84149-155-1
* Transition (2009). London: Little, Brown Book Group. ISBN 978-0-316-73107-2. (Published in the United States as Iain M. Banks.)

#### Short fiction collections

* The State of the Art (1991). London: Orbit. ISBN 0-356-19669-0
* Includes three short works set in the Culture universe. It also includes works of fiction more characteristic of Banks's writing published as Iain Banks. A radio version of the title story was transmitted by Radio 4 in 2009.[91]
* The Spheres (Birmingham Science Fiction Group, 2010)
* Includes 'The Spheres', excised from the original draft of Transition; and 'The Secret Courtyard', excised from Matter. Limited edition of 500, to mark Novacon 40.

### Introductions

Banks wrote introductions for works by other writers including:

* Viriconium (1988) by M. John Harrison, the Unwin edition, ISBN 0-04-440245-7.
* The Adventures of Luther Arkwright: Book 3, Götterdämmerung (1989) by Bryan Talbot from Proutt Publishing, ISBN 0-907865-03-8.
* The Orbit Science Fiction Yearbook Three (1990) edited by David S. Garnett, ISBN 0-07-088833-7.
* The Human Front (2001) by Ken MacLeod, the PS Publishing edition, ISBN 1-902880-30-7 (hbk) and ISBN 1-902880-31-5 (pbk).

## References

1. ↑ McDermid, Val (2017). "Banks, Iain (1954–2013), author and composer". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/106888. http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-106888. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
2. ↑ Iain Banks: A Biography. Craig Cabell, 2014. Kindle edition, location 472.
3. ↑ Dunfermline Court (9727) Serial Number: 7674
4. ↑ "Iain Banks". Open Book. 23 October 2009. BBC Radio 4. Archived from the original on 27 January 2015. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
5. ↑ "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945". The Times. 5 January 2008. https://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article3127837.ece.
6. ↑ Pegg, Simon (6 August 2024). "Inside The Wasp Factory". 0. London, England. BBC. BBC Radio 4. Retrieved 3 February 2026.
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 BBC (9 June 2013). "Iain Banks dies of cancer aged 59". Web. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-22835047.
8. ↑ "Scotland's Favourite Book". London, England: BBC. August 2016. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/2ClzCqc45kb6xffl0bfD2w2/the-results-of-the-vote-to-find-your-favourite-scottish-novel.
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 "A personal statement from Iain Banks". Iain M Banks. 3 April 2013. http://www.iain-banks.net/2013/04/03/a-personal-statement-from-iain-banks/.
10. ↑ "Author Iain Banks dies". BBC News. 9 June 2013. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22835047.
11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 "Doing the Business". The Guardian. 7 August 1999. https://www.theguardian.com/books/1999/aug/07/fiction.iainbanks.
12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 "Five Minutes With: Iain M Banks". BBC News. 3 November 2012. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/entertainment-arts-20181130.
13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Richard Coles. "Saturday Live 21/05/2011". BBC Radio 4. BBC. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0118bgr.
14. ↑ "The Banksoniain #19 - eFanzines.com". http://efanzines.com/Banksoniain/Banksoniain19.pdf.
15. ↑ "Interview: Iain (M) Banks – What's in an M?". Not The Day Job. http://notthedayjob.tumblr.com/post/8914135987/interview-iain-m-banks-whats-in-an-m.
16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 "Iain Banks". British Council. http://literature.britishcouncil.org/iain-banks.
17. ↑ Caroti, Simone (26 July 2018). The Culture Series of Iain M. Banks: A Critical Introduction. McFarland. p. 24. ISBN 978-1-4766-2040-4. https://books.google.com/books?id=U9J7BwAAQBAJ&pg=PA24.
18. ↑ "What's in an M (or) What a difference an M makes". http://www.sandm.co.uk/mary/sfjournm/Iain_Banks/iain_banks.html.
19. ↑ "Author Iain M. Banks: 'Humanity's future is blister-free calluses!'". CNN. 6 January 2009. http://edition.cnn.com/2008/TECH/space/05/15/iain.banks/index.html.
20. ↑ "Iain Banks: Whit and Excession: Getting Used To Being God". Spike Magazine. 3 September 1996. http://www.spikemagazine.com/0996bank.php.
21. ↑ Horspool, David (6 December 2003). "Scotch on the rocks". The Guardian (London). https://www.theguardian.com/books/2003/dec/06/travel.highereducation.
22. ↑ "Mark Lawson Talks to Ian Banks on BBC TV and Radio". BBC Backstage. 17 November 2006. http://bbc.ask-adders.com/series/Mark+Lawson+Talks+to+Iain+Banks/.
23. ↑ "In the Wake of the British Boom: The 72nd World Science Fiction Convention". 2014-09-01. https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/wake-british-boom-72nd-world-science-fiction-convention/.
24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 Jason Boog (6 May 2013). "Ian Banks to publish 'The Quarry' in June". GalleyCat. MediaBistro. http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/iain-banks-to-publish-the-quarry-in-june_b69907.
25. ↑ MacLeod, Ken (14 February 2015). "'Readers of Iain Banks's prose will find in his poems much that is familiar'". The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/feb/14/iain-banks-prose-poems-ken-macleod.
26. ↑ Beauchamp, Scott (16 January 2013). "'The Future Might Be a Hoot': How Iain M. Banks Imagines Utopia". https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/01/the-future-might-be-a-hoot-how-iain-m-banks-imagines-utopia/267211/.
27. ↑ Alison Flood (21 May 2013). "Iain Banks posts new update to fans on his cancer". the Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/may/21/iain-banks-updates-fans-cancer. "Until the last few years or so, when the SF novels started to achieve something approaching parity in sales, the mainstream always out-sold the SF – on average, if my memory isn't letting me down, by a ratio of about three or four to one. I think a lot of people have assumed that the SF was the trashy but high-selling stuff... while I wrote the important, serious, non-genre literary novels. Never been the case, and I can't imagine that I'd have lied about this sort of thing, least of all as some sort of joke. The SF novels have always mattered deeply to me – the Culture series in particular – and while it might not be what people want to hear (academics especially), the mainstream subsidised the SF, not the other way round."
28. ↑ Flood, Allison (15 February 2018). "Iain M Banks's drawings of the Culture universe to be published in 2019". The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/feb/15/iain-m-bankss-drawings-of-the-culture-universe-to-be-published-in-2019.
29. ↑ "An update regarding THE CULTURE: NOTES AND DRAWINGS by Iain M. Banks and Ken MacLeod". Orbit Books. 15 June 2021. https://www.orbitbooks.net/2021/06/15/an-update-regarding-the-culture-notes-and-drawings-by-iain-m-banks-and-ken-macleod/.
30. ↑ "THE CULTURE: THE DRAWINGS by Iain M. Banks". Orbit Books. 21 April 2023. https://www.orbitbooks.net/2023/04/21/the-culture-the-drawings-by-iain-m-banks/.
31. ↑ "The Culture: The Drawings" (in en-US). 2023-04-05. https://www.orbit-books.co.uk/landing-page/orbit/the-culture-the-drawings/.
32. ↑ 32.0 32.1 Simon Johnson (2008). "When is Iain Banks next appearing on TV/Radio?". Iain Banks FAQ. Google, Inc. http://www.iainbanksfaq.co.uk/2008/12/when-is-iain-banks-next-appearing-on.html.
33. ↑ Paul Cornell (1 March 2009). "The State of the Art". PaulCornell.com. Google, Inc. http://www.paulcornell.com/2009/03/state-of-art.html.
34. ↑ BBC (5 March 2009). "The State of the Art Radio Radio 4 dramatisation page". BBC. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00hv1dz.
35. ↑ Richard Coles. "Saturday Live 21/05/2011". BBC Radio 4. BBC. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0118bgr.
36. ↑ "Author Iain Banks: In his own words". BBC News. 9 June 2013. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-22780003.
37. ↑ 37.0 37.1 37.2 37.3 37.4 37.5 37.6 37.7 Stuart Jeffries (25 May 2007). "A man of culture". The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2007/may/25/hayfestival2007.hayfestival.
38. ↑ "Iain Banks: Raw Spirit – BBC Two". https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b02xf70k.
39. ↑ "Theatre: The Curse of Iain Banks, Gilded Balloon". The Herald Scotland. 11 August 1999. http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/spl/aberdeen/theatre-the-curse-of-iain-banks-gilded-balloon-1.277604.
40. ↑ 40.0 40.1 Gary Lloyd (22 July 1999). "Work in progress". The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/1999/jul/22/features11.g21.
41. ↑ "Scots writers spurn their neighbours". The Economist. 24 April 1997. https://www.economist.com/moreover/1997/04/24/scots-writers-spurn-their-neighbours.
42. ↑ "Iain Banks: 'The SSP gets my vote....' » Scottish Socialist Party". 10 June 2013. https://www.scottishsocialistparty.org/iain-banks-the-ssp-gets-my-vote-and-i-buy-the-scottish-socialist-voice/.
43. ↑ "SSP News: News from the Scottish Socialist Party". 29 September 2007. http://www.scottishsocialistparty.info/archive/2004_10_03_newsarchive.html.
44. ↑ Kennedy, AL; Galloway, Janice (28 August 2011). "Scotland and England: what future for the Union? | Culture | The Observer". The Guardian (London). https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2011/aug/28/scottish-independence-snp-iain-banks?INTCMP=SRCH.
45. ↑ Hamish Macdonell (24 November 2012). "Radicals threaten Salmond and Scottish independence campaign". The Independent. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/radicals-threaten-salmond-and-scottish-independence-campaign-8347545.html.
46. ↑ 46.0 46.1 "Interview: Changing society, imagining the future". Socialistreview.org.uk. http://www.socialistreview.org.uk/article.php?articlenumber=10267.
47. ↑ Banks, Iain (2 June 2010). "Letters: Small step towards a boycott of Israel". The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/jun/03/boycott-israel-iain-banks.
48. ↑ Iain M Banks (5 April 2013). "Iain Banks: why I'm supporting a cultural boycott of Israel". The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/apr/05/iain-banks-cultural-boycott-israel.
49. ↑ Banks, Iain (2003). Raw Spirit: In Search of the Perfect Dram. London: Century. pp. 102–103. ISBN 978-1-84413-195-2.
50. ↑ Liz Hoggard (18 February 2007). "Iain Banks: The novel factory". The Independent (London). https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/iain-banks-the-novel-factory-436865.html.
51. ↑ Mark Macaskill and Robert Booth (25 February 2007). "Bye-bye Porsches, says green convert Iain Banks". London. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article1434667.ece.
52. ↑ Gerard Earley (3 October 2012). "Iain M. Banks became President of Science Fiction Book Club, London England". London: Web. http://www.sciencefictionbookclub.org.
53. ↑ Stephen McGinty (8 April 2013). "Iain Banks marries in his favourite place". The Scotsman. Johnston Publishing Ltd. http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/books/features/iain-banks-marries-in-his-favourite-place-1-2882190. "The couple's wedding certificate shows that Banks, 59, of North Queensferry, married 42-year-old Miss Hartley at the five-star hotel [Inverlochy Castle Hotel, The Highlands], in a short humanist ceremony on Good Friday."
54. ↑ Andrew Brown (4 April 2013). "In one sentence, Iain Banks speaks volumes about marriage". The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/apr/04/iain-banks-marriage-debate.
55. ↑ "Author Iain Banks has terminal cancer". BBC News. 3 April 2013. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-22015175.
56. ↑ "Iain Banks Announces He Has 'Months' To Live". Sky News. 3 April 2013. http://news.sky.com/story/1073353/iain-banks-announces-he-has-months-to-live.
57. ↑ "Iain Banks dies of cancer aged 59". BBC News. 9 June 2013. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22835047.
58. ↑ "Iain Banks – The Quarry cover art, release date and synopsis reveal". Upcoming4.me. http://upcoming4.me/news/book-news/iain-banks-the-quarry-cover-art-release-date-and-synopsis-reveal.
59. ↑ Lindsay Deutsch (7 May 2013). "Book Buzz: New Iain Banks coming in June". USA TODAY. https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/books/2013/05/07/book-buzz/2141051/.
60. ↑ The Quarry by Iain M. Banks. Hachette Book Group. 27 June 2017. ISBN 9780316281843. https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/iain-m-banks/the-quarry/9780316281843/. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
61. ↑ Slotnik, Daniel E. (12 June 2013). "Iain Banks, Novelist of Crime and Science Fiction, Dies at 59". The New York Times (New York City, U.S.). https://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/13/books/iain-banks-novelist-of-crime-and-science-fiction-dies-at-59.html.
62. ↑ "'Fuck every cause that ends in murder and children crying' – Iain Banks, 1954–2013 – Charlie's Diary". Antipope.org. http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2013/06/fuck-every-cause-that-ends-in-.html.
63. ↑ Gaiman, Neil (5 November 2011). "Iain Banks. With or without the M". http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2013/06/iain-banks-with-or-without-m.html.
64. ↑ Reynolds, Alistair (9 June 2013). "Iain Banks 1954–2013". http://approachingpavonis.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/iain-banks-1954-2013.html.
65. ↑ "Iain Banks: Tributes paid to author". BBC News. 10 June 2013. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-22838993. ; quotes from Ian Rankin, Val MacDermid, and Neil Gaiman
66. ↑ Brin, David (10 June 2013). "Science Fiction: A lament – then Optimism and the Next Generation / First: Sad News". http://davidbrin.blogspot.com/2013/06/science-fiction-lament-then-optimism.html.
67. ↑ "Sci-Fi Author Iain M. Banks Gets Asteroid Named after Him". Minor Planet Center. http://minorplanetcenter.net/blog/sci-fi-author-iain-m-banks-gets-asteroid-named-after-him/.
68. ↑ Baker-Whitelaw, Gavia (24 January 2015). "Elon Musk's new drone ships pay tribute to a revered sci-fi author". http://www.dailydot.com/geek/elon-musk-drone-iain-m-banks/.
69. ↑ Kelly, Emre (12 February 2018). "Elon Musk: New SpaceX drone ship, A Shortfall of Gravitas, coming to East Coast" (in en). Florida Today. https://www.floridatoday.com/story/tech/science/space/2018/02/12/elon-musk-new-spacex-drone-ship-coming-east-coast-port-canaveral/330356002/.
70. ↑ Talbot, Mary M.; Bryan Talbot (2016). The Red Virgin and the Vision of Utopia. Milwaukie, OR: Dark Horse Books. Dedication Page. ISBN 978-1-5067-0089-2. OCLC 928479924.
71. ↑ Stross, Charles (2017). Empire Games. Macmillan. pp. Dedication Page. ISBN 978-0-7653-3756-6. OCLC 1107414199.
72. ↑ Morelle, Rebecca (13 May 2019). "Mariana Trench: Deepest-ever sub dive finds plastic bag". BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-48230157.
73. ↑ "Technology". https://fivedeeps.com/home/technology/.
74. ↑ "Iain M. Banks – Award Bibliography". Al von Ruff. 1995–2011. http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/eaw.cgi?100.
75. ↑ "Banks, Iain M.". The LOCUS Index to SF Awards. Mark R. Kelly and Locus Publications. 2000–2011. http://www.locusmag.com/SFAwards/Db/NomLit7.html#259.
76. ↑ "Arthur C.Clarke Award Shortlists". The Arthur C Clarke Award. 2012. http://www.clarkeaward.com/previous-awards/shortlists/.
77. ↑ 77.0 77.1 77.2 77.3 "Kurd-Laßwitz-Preis 1992" (in de). Kurd-Laßwitz-Preis. 1992. http://www.kurd-lasswitz-preis.de/1992/KLP_1992_Preistraeger.htm.
78. ↑ "Honorary degrees". Times Higher Education. 17 March 1997. http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/101683.article.
79. ↑ "Honorary Graduates1988-1997". University of Stirling (Development and External Affairs). http://www.externalrelations.stir.ac.uk/events/honorary-graduates/1988-1997.php.
80. ↑ "Premio Italia" (in it). Italcon. Delos Books e World SF. 2004. http://www.fantascienza.com/italcon/albo_premio_italia.php?anno=2004.
81. ↑ "Hugo Awards 2005". Hugo Awards. 2005. http://www.thehugoawards.org/hugo-history/2005-hugo-awards/.
82. ↑ "Prometheus Award for Best Novel – Nominees". Libertarian Futurist Society. LFS. 2003–2012. http://lfs.org/novel_nominees.shtml.
83. ↑ "Doctor of the University 1973–2011". The Open University. http://www.open.ac.uk/students/ceremonies/files/ceremonies/file/Doctor of the University 1973-2011.pdf.
84. ↑ "ASLS Honorary Fellowships". Association for Scottish Literary Studies. http://www.arts.gla.ac.uk/ScotLit/ASLS/HonFels.html.
85. ↑ Kerridge, Jake (9 June 2013). "Iain Banks: an honest, funny and compassionate writer who beguiled 21st-century readers". The Telegraph (London). https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturenews/10109125/Iain-Banks-an-honest-funny-and-compassionate-writer-who-beguiled-21st-century-readers.html.
86. ↑ "Iain Banks email Q&A July 2008". Little, Brown Books Group. 21 July 2008. http://www.iain-banks.net/2008/07/21/iain-banks-email-qa-july-2008/.
87. ↑ "BBC One – Stonemouth". BBC. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02qxkvz.
88. ↑ 88.0 88.1 Banks, Iain M. (10 August 1994). "A Few Notes on the Culture". http://www.vavatch.co.uk/books/banks/cultnote.htm. Originally posted on rec.arts.sf newsgroup.
89. ↑ Look to Windward. Little, Brown Book Group. 29 January 2019. ISBN 9780748110032. https://www.iain-banks.net/titles/iain-m-banks-3/look-to-windward/9780748110032/.
90. ↑ "Internet Speculative Fiction Database". 1 August 2019. http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pe.cgi?504+None.
91. ↑ "BBC Radio 4 – Afternoon Drama, Iain M Banks – The State of the Art". BBC. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00hv1dz.

## Further reading

Library resources about
Iain Banks

* * *

* Resources in your library
* Resources in other libraries

* Simone Caroti: The Culture Series of Iain M. Banks: A Critical Introduction, McFarland, April 2015, ISBN 978-0-7864-9447-7.
* Nick Hubble, Esther MacCallum-Stewart and Joseph Norman (eds.):The Science Fiction of Iain M. Banks, Gylphi Limited, January 2018, ISBN 978-1-78024-054-1.
* Paul Kincaid: Iain M. Banks, University of Illinois Press, May 2017, ISBN 978-0-252-04101-3.
* The Science Fiction Foundation have published an analysis of Ken MacLeod's work titled The True Knowledge of Ken MacLeod (; 2003; ISBN 0-903007-02-9), edited by Andrew M. Butler and Farah Mendlesohn. As well as critical essays and material on MacLeod, it includes MacLeod's introduction to the German edition of Banks's Consider Phlebas and essays comparing the works of the two authors.

## External links

* No URL found. Please specify a URL here or add one to Wikidata.
* Template:British council
* Iain Banks at the Internet Book List
* Iain Banks discography at Discogs
* Iain Banks on IMDb
* Iain Banks at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
* AZAD the Game—The Boardgame development website

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*[m.]: married
*[div.]: divorced