Alan Spence

Way to go

The year is 1858. Thomas Glover is a gutsy eighteen-year-old who grasps the chance of escape to foreign lands and takes a posting as a trader in Japan. Within ten years he amasses a great fortune, learns the ways of the samurai, and, on the other side of the law, brings about the overthrow of the Shogun. Yet beneath Glover's astonishing success lies a man cut to the heart. His love affair with a courtesan - a woman who, unknown to him, would bear him the son for which he had always longed - would form a tragedy so dramatic as to be immortalised in the stories behind Madame Butterfly and Miss Saigon.The Pure Land relives in fiction the arc of Glover's true-life rise and fall, and forges a hundred-year saga that culminates in the annihilation of Nagasaki in 1945.

The Pure Land

Set under the skies of eighteenth-century Japan, Night Boat is a tale of fear, devotion and the power of the spirit against all odds.

A Zen Novel

Night Boat

Gece Kayığı

Its Colours They Are Fine

The Magic Flute

Clear Light contains 150 haiku bursting with Alan Spence's characteristic verve and wit. Mythic and mesmerising, inspiring and hilarious, these poems shed clear light on the delights, hardships, breakthroughs and frustrations of the world of the momentary. Simple in form, these haiku request a fresh look at the familiar and leave us reeling at how much in the world, from the exotic to the everyday, we have yet to observe.

Clear Light

and other stories

Stone garden

Haiku and Tanka

Morning Glory

Alan Spence's collection of haikus and other short poetic forms focuses on the theme of Glasgow, its people, landscape and culture. It includes some previously published poems but is mostly made up of contemporary writing.

Glasgow Zen

This is Spence's first book of poetry since "Glasgow Zen". In this collection he evokes the essence of the seasons with this cycle of haiku.

Haiku

Seasons of the Heart

First performed by the Traverse Theater Club in Edinburgh, this play is imaginative, alive with its character's humour and optimism. It is also sad and haunting. Ideal for Standard Grade English, it will also appeal to all those who like Glaswegian dialogue.

Sailmaker

Jane Cooper

Exam Board: SQA Level: National 5 Subject: English First Teaching: September 2015 First Exam: June 2016 Sailmaker Plus offers the full text of the widely popular drama text, Sailmaker, by award-winning writer Alan Spence, which is a set text for National 5 English. It also provides an introduction by the author outlining his motives in writing it, and a wide range of background material by Jane Cooper, offering a historical perspective and detailed support for students who wish to write about the play in literary contexts, especially for examination purposes. Although suitable for a broad range of students, the play is likely to be particularly suitable for study at National 5 English.

Sailmaker Plus

A superb new collection of haiku and other short poetic forms on the theme of Glasgow – its people, landscape, culture. As always, Spence is uniquely illuminating, witty and delightful. Incorporating some of the poems which appeared decades ago in the much sought-after collection of the same title, Glasgow Zen includes mostly new material from this highly popular and exquisite poet.

Glasgow 1968

An Eye on the Street

Seasons Of The Heart

A classic of short fiction, Alan Spence’s celebrated debut collection, first published in 1977, brings Glasgow to vibrant life and captures the spirit of the city as it teetered on the brink of change. From childhood Christmases in small tenement flats and games played on scrubland, to Orange Walks on bright Saturday afternoons and Thursday nights in dark, pulsing dancehalls, these interlinked stories vividly evoke the city and its inhabitants – young and old, Catholic and Protestant, hopeful and disillusioned.

Angus Calder

Sir David Lindsay

The 3 Estaitesis - by common consent - Scotland's greatest play. First performed in Cupar, Fife in June 1552, it is the earliest Scottish play to have survived. Full of broad humour and pantomime-like farce, it also deals with dangerous topical issues, hitting out at corruption and hypocrisy in the ruling establishment, denouncing the oppression of the poor and calling for social 'reformation'. A young king is rescued from idle sexual dalliance and false counsels by Divine Correction and they preside over a Parliament summoned to enact just laws, where basic Christian tenets and values are affirmed - but Folly has the last word. In 2000 The 3 Estaitesgained a fresh resonance when it celebrated both the Millennium and the rebirth of Scotland's Parliament by returning to Cupar for the first time in nearly four and a half centuries. This contemporary Scots version by the leading poet and playwright Alan Spence retains the structure and spirit of Lindsay's script while giving his language a new lease of life. The play's topical allusions have been updated brilliantly, but Lindsay's generous spirit and enormous sense of fun have been preserved. This is a national drama, expressing a comprehensive perspective of what Scotland is and what it might be - a land of justice, fellow-feeling and laughter.

The Millenium Version

David Lindsay's The 3 Estaites

Alan Spence's debut collection of short stories is a timeless portrait of Glasgow, and an acknowledged piece of classic Scottish writing

Alan Spence

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