Scottish author of fifteen novels, many of which have received critical acclaim, Irvine Welsh didn’t jump right into writing– he started composing songs as a young man, and then switched to writing poems, until finally graduating to the published author he is now. Welsh has mild dyslexia, and got into some trouble during his schooling years because of the misunderstanding of what his dyslexia was– he was treated as just a difficult student who kept getting into trouble instead of receiving the proper intervention he needed to address his dyslexia.

The main character in Welsh’s most popular novel series, Trainspotting, is also dyslexic. Welsh wanted to convey to his readers that being dyslexic isn’t being stupid or a poor student, and puts a bit of himself into his dyslexic character, Begbie. Welsh didn’t let his dyslexia stop him from becoming not only a successful author, but one who is known for his novels’ controversial themes and dialectal writing style.