Projects per year
Personal profile
Personal Statement
RODGE GLASS is the author of nine books across fiction and nonfiction. His biography of Alasdair Gray won a Somerset Maugham Award, in 2023 his essay 'On the Covenant' won the Anne Brown Essay Prize and in 2025 his last book Joshua in the Sky: A Blood Memoir was nominated for Saltire Society Scottish Nonfiction Book of the Year. His next book, As One: Remaking Suede (New Modern/Simon & Schuster, 2026) is a major behind-the-scenes biography of the famously secretive band. Rodge is currently Reader in Creative Writing at the University of Strathclyde.
Rodge's debut novel No Fireworks (Faber, 2005) was nominated for four major prizes including the Authors’ Club First Novel Award and the Dylan Thomas Prize. This was followed by another novel, Hope for Newborns (Faber, 2008), and soon after by Alasdair Gray: A Secretary’s Biography (Bloomsbury, 2008), which gained further nominations, widespread critical acclaim and has recently gone into a new edition. Next, he was co-author of the graphic novel Dougie’s War: A Soldier’s Story along with Dave Turbitt, also nominated for several awards. His novel Bring Me the Head of Ryan Giggs, was published in 2013 by Serpent’s Tail and translated into Italian (66thand2nd, Rome, 2014). Meanwhile, the collection Stories for the Easyjet Generation (Freight, 2013) was translated into Serbian (Rasic Literary Workshop, Belgrade, 2016). Various works have also been published in Albanian, Danish, French, Hebrew, Romanian, Slovenian and Spanish. Recent publications include two chapters in Michel Faber: Critical Essays (Gylphi, 2020), in which Glass responds to Faber’s oeuvre first with a creative response short story, ‘In Separate Time’, then with a study on Faber’s poetics of compassion. Rodge's book Michel Faber: The Writer & his Work (Liverpool University Press, 2023), was published in an expanded paperback in 2025. Joshua in the Sky: A Blood Memoir was published by Taproot Press in 2024, while his audio stories for children, 'A Little Light' and 'The Magic of Stories' are available on BBC Sounds.
Rodge has written extensively for multiple publications such as The Paris Review and The Guardian, appeared on TV and radio including on Open Book, The One Show, Take Four Books, Thought for the Day, Faith Forum and BBC2’s Edinburgh Nights, and appeared at numerous international literary festivals including Rome, New York and Toronto. He is an experienced editorand works closely with the Alasdair Gray Archive on their ongoing series of Creative Commissions in collaboration with Creative Writing at the University of Strathclyde.
Education/Academic qualification
Doctor of Literature, Working with Alasdair Gray, University of Glasgow
1 Sept 2005 → 1 Sept 2008
Award Date: 1 Sept 2008
External positions
Festival Advisory Committee, Aye Write! Book Festival
1 May 2020 → …
Keywords
- Alasdair Gray
- Contemporary Fiction
- Novel
- Short Story
- Creative Nonfiction
Fingerprint
- 1 Similar Profiles
Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
-
The 2nd International Alasdair Gray Conference
Glass, R. (Principal Investigator)
Project: Knowledge Exchange (Conference / Seminar Hosting)
-
Creative Commissions Series with the Alasdair Gray Archive - £3,000 of funding from AGA 2021-2025
Glass, R. (Principal Investigator)
Project: Non-funded project
-
"Scottish by formation": Michel Faber's Under the Skin and national ambiguities
Glass, R., 8 Apr 2026, In: Studies in Scottish Literature. 51, 2, p. 185-196 12 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile6 Downloads (Pure) -
Alasdair Gray and the Art of the Creative Response: From ‘The Star’ to ‘The Crystal Egg’ and Back, Across Visual and Literary Practice
Glass, R., 1 Nov 2026, The Edinburgh Companion to Alasdair Gray and the Arts . Pittin-Hedon, M.-O., Manfredi, C. & Stirling, K. (eds.). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 16 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
Prizes
-
Mark Haddon at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, in Conversation with Rodge Glass
Glass, R. (Speaker)
15 Aug 2026Activity: Talk or Presentation › Invited talk
-