Walter Scott was born in Edinburgh on 15 August 1777. He was educated in Edinburgh and called to the bar in 1792, succeeding his father as Writer to the Signet, then Clerk of Session. He published anonymous translations of German Romantic poetry from 1797, in which year he also married. In 1805 he published his first major work, a romantic poem called
The Lay of the Last Minstrel, became a partner in a printing business, and several other long poems followed, including
Marmion (1808) and
The Lady of the Lake (1810). These poems found acclaim and great popularity, but from 1814 and the publication of
Waverley, Scott turned almost exclusively to novel-writing, albeit anonymously. A hugely prolific period of writing produced over twenty-five novels, including
Rob Roy (1817),
The Heart of Midlothian (1818),
The Bride of Lammermoor (1819),
Kenilworth (1821) and
Redgauntlet (1824). Already sheriff-depute of Selkirkshire, Scott was created a baronet in 1820. The printing business in which Scott was a partner ran into financial difficulties in 1826, and Scott devoted his energies to work in order to repay the firm’s creditors, publishing many more novels, dramatic works, histories and a life of Napoleon Bonaparte. Sir Walter Scott died on 21 September 1832 at Abbotsford, the home he had built on the Scottish Borders.
Robert Louis Stevenson was born in Edinburgh in 1850. Chronically ill with bronchitis and possibly tuberculosis, Stevenson withdrew from Engineering at Edinburgh University in favour of Studying Law. Although he passed the bar and became an advocate in 1875, he knew that his true work was as a writer.
Between 1876 and his death in 1894, Stevenson wrote prolifically. His published essays, short stories, fiction, travel books, plays, letters and poetry number in dozens. The most famous of his works include Travels With A Donkey in the Cevennes (1879), New Arabian Nights (1882), Treasure Island (1883), The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1887), Thrawn Janet (1887) and Kidnapped (1893).
After marrying Fanny Osbourne in 1880 Stevenson continued to travel and to write about his experiences. His poor health led him and his family to Valima in Samoa, where they settled. During his days there Stevenson was known as ‘Tusitala’ or ‘The Story Teller’. His love of telling romantic and adventure stories allowed him to connect easily with the universal child in all of us. ‘Fiction is to grown men what play is to the child,’ he said.
Robert Louis Stevenson died in Valima in 1894 of a brain haemorrhage.
Margaret Oliphant (1828-97) was born in Wallyford, near Edinburgh. Her first novel,
Passages in the Life of Margaret Maitland (1849), achieved some success and was followed two years later with further novels. She began contributing to magazines including
Blackwoods, for whom she was to write hundreds of short stories, essays, articles and serialised novels such as
Katie Stewart (1853). Some of Oliphant's most powerful stories are her supernatural tales, compiled in
A Beleaguered City and Other Tales of the Seen and Unseen (1885).
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was born on 22 May 1859 in Edinburgh. He studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh and began to write stories while he was a student. Over his life he produced more than thirty books, 150 short stories, poems, plays and essays across a wide range of genres. His most famous creation is the detective Sherlock Holmes, who he introduced in his first novel
A Study in Scarlet (1887).
Irvine Welsh was born and raised in Edinburgh. His first novel,
Trainspotting, has sold over one million copies in the UK and was adapted into an era-defining film. He has written thirteen further novels, including
Crime and the number one bestseller
Dead Men's Trousers, four books of shorter fiction and numerous plays and screenplays. Irvine Welsh currently lives between London, Edinburgh and Miami.
