Irvine Welsh His first novel, "Trainspotting", was published in 1993. Set in the mid-1980s, it uses a series of loosely connected short stories to tell the story of a group of characters tied together by decaying friendships, heroin addiction and stabs at escape from the oppressive boredom and brutality of their lives in the housing schemes. It was released to shock and outrage in some circles and great acclaim in others; "Time Out" called it "funny, unflinchingly abrasive, authentic and inventive", and "The Sunday Times" called Welsh "the best thing that has happened to British writing for decades". It was adapted as
Trainspotting (novel) tours and in New York City. The film was directed by Danny Boyle, with an adapted screenplay written by John Hodge. It starred Ewan McGregor, Robert Carlyle, Jonny Lee Miller and Ewen Bremner. Irvine Welsh made a cameo appearance as the drug dealer Mikey Forrester. The film has been ranked 10th by the British Film Institute (BFI) in its list of Top 100 British films of all time. It also brought Welsh's book to an international cinema audience and added to the phenomenal popularity of the novel. It was longlisted for the 1993 Booker Prize (and was apparently rejected for