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Alan Spence

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Alan Spence


Born
Glasgow, Scotland
Genre
Fiction, Drama, Poetry

Influences
Tom McGrath, Sri Chimnoy, R.H. Blyth ...more


Alan Spence (born 1947) is a Scottish writer and is Professor in Creative Writing at the University of Aberdeen, where he is also artistic director of the annual WORD Festival. He was born in Glasgow, and much of his work is set in the city.

Spence is an award-winning poet and playwright, novelist and short-story writer. His first work was the collection of short stories Its Colours They are Fine, first published in 1977. This was followed by two plays, Sailmaker in 1982 and Space Invaders in 1983. The novel The Magic Flute appeared in 1990 along with his first book of poetry, Glasgow Zen. In 1991, another of his plays, Changed Days, was published before a brief hiatus. He returned in 1996 with Stone Garden, another collection of short stori ...more

Combine Editions

Average rating: 3.69 · 1,777 ratings · 215 reviews · 53 distinct works • Similar authors
The Pure Land
3.62 avg rating — 778 ratings — published 1996 — 31 editions
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Way to Go
4.20 avg rating — 200 ratings — published 1998 — 7 editions
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Night Boat
3.95 avg rating — 199 ratings — published 2013 — 8 editions
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Its Colours They Are Fine
4.06 avg rating — 122 ratings — published 1977 — 14 editions
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Sailmaker
2.60 avg rating — 127 ratings — published 1988 — 2 editions
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The Magic Flute
3.81 avg rating — 70 ratings — published 1990 — 4 editions
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Stone Garden and Other Stories
4.11 avg rating — 37 ratings — published 1995 — 3 editions
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Glasgow Zen
3.72 avg rating — 39 ratings — published 2002 — 5 editions
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Christology: A Guide for th...
3.60 avg rating — 40 ratings — published 2009 — 9 editions
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Sailmaker Plus
by
2.57 avg rating — 53 ratings — published 2009 — 2 editions
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More books by Alan Spence…
Quotes by Alan Spence  (?)
Quotes are added by the Goodreads community and are not verified by Goodreads. (Learn more)

“We die, he said.
We die, I said. And kn owing this how do we live?
Knowing this, we live.
We live.”
― Alan Spence, Night Boat
tags: zen-buddhism
1 likes
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“We die, he said.
We die, I said. And knowing this how do we live?
Knowing this, we live.
We live.”
― Alan Spence
tags: zen
0 likes
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“rain falling
through the night
into the new year”
― Alan Spence, Clear Light
0 likes
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Polls

Which book would you like to read for our October 1 - November 1 History group read?

 
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  6 votes, 22.2%

 
  5 votes, 18.5%

 
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  2 votes, 7.4%

27 total votes
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