Rankin’s files opened up to the public
The personal archives of crime writer Ian R ankin are to be opened up to the pub - lic this week – giving fans of his Inspector Rebus novels glimpses into their creation and evolution over more than 30 years.
The National Library of Scotland has revealed that nearly 400 files of manuscripts, notes and letters kept by the bestselling writer will be available to inspect from Friday .
However followers of Rankin and Rebus will have to pre - book their visit to a “reading room” at its headquarters in Edinburgh.
More than 50 boxes of material donated by R ankin last year before he moved house have been painstakingly examined and catalogued by a dedicated curator before being made available to the public.
Highlights include early manuscripts for first Rebus novel Knots and Crosses, correspondence with leading literary figures like JKR owl ing, Iain Banks, Ruth Rendell, Val Mcdermid and Jilly Cooper, letters from police officers who offered to help R ankin with his research, and his unfinished PHD on the author Muriel Spark.
The archive includes Rankin’s personal reflections on trying to make it as a successful crime writer, his hopes of being treated seriously by literary critics, his ambitions of making a full-time living from writing, and tribute to his most influential teacher at school in Fife.
It also includes material Rankin himself had little or no memory of writing, including short stories, plays and scripts for TV series.
Curator Rosemary Hall said: “There are a lot of unpublished short short stories, a TV serial that never came to anything and a stage play Ian had
completely forgotten about because he has written so much over the years.
“I think the archive will attract a really wide range of readers and researchers. I’d imagine there will be people
who will want to do a PHD on Ian’s work, but there will also be his fans, who love his writing and his relationship with Edinburgh. I think people will be really interested in the inner workings of his mind, how he writes the novels and how we comes up with the characters.”
The author said: “The whole process has been one of excavation .”