National Galleries of Scotland

When Archie Hind was twenty he enrolled in a literature evening class at Glasgow University. A grant then enabled him to study for a year at Newbattle College. Although regarded as one of the finest writers to emerge from Glasgow in the twentieth century, Hind?s literary reputation rests on his one completed book, `The Dear Green Place? (1966). Its story of a poor man from Glasgow?s east end who is determined to become a writer won The Guardian First Book Award and, more importantly perhaps, was a great influence on the work of James Kelman, William McIlvanney and other Scottish novelists whose books are concerned with working-class life. Moffat was involved in the Scottish literary scene from the 1960s onwards and painted many of Scotland?s poets and writers.