“The world is full of information. What do we do when we get the information, when we have digested the information, what do we do then? Is there a point where ye say, yes, stop, now I shall move on.”

This exhilarating collection of essays, interviews, and correspondence—spanning the years 1988 through 2018, and reaching back a decade more—is about the simple concept that ideas matter. They mutate, inform, create fuel for thought, and inspire actions.<.p>

As Kelman says, the State relies on our suffocation, that we cannot hope to learn “the truth. But whether we can or not is beside the point. We must grasp the nettle, we assume control and go forward.”

Between Thought and Expression Lies a Lifetime is an impassioned, elucidating, and often humorous collaboration. Philosophical and intimate, it is a call to ponder, imagine, explore, and act.

James Kelman was born in Glasgow,
June 1946, and left school in 1961. He began work in the printing trade
then moved around, working in various jobs in various places. He was
living in England when he started writing: ramblings, musings, sundry
phantasmagoria. He committed to it and kept at it. In 1969 he met and
married Marie Connors from South Wales. They settled in Glasgow and
still live in the dump, not far from their kids and grandkids. He still
plugs away at the ramblings, musings, politicking and so on, supported
by the same lady.