There are literary events, and then there are nights where someone puts Irvine Welsh in a room and basically says: go on then, tell us everything. An Audience With Irvine Welsh at Barras Art & Design on Thursday 24 April is firmly in the second camp.

The format is beautifully simple. Welsh — the man who wrote Trainspotting, Filth, The Acid House, and Crime — will sit down in one of Glasgow's most characterful venues and hold court on his extraordinary career, his characters, and whatever else comes spilling out. The evening also promises a DJ set from Welsh himself, because of course it does. The man runs his own dance music label, Jack Said What, and has been spinning records at festivals for years. Literature and beats under one roof, at the Barras. It's almost too perfect.

The Venue

Speaking of perfect — the choice of BAaD is inspired. Barras Art & Design sits at 54 Calton Entry in Glasgow's East End, right in the heart of the historic Barras Market. It's a light-filled space of shipping containers, murals, and a courtyard that somehow manages to be both industrial and inviting. Winner of Scotland's Most Stylish Venue at the Scottish Style Awards, BAaD has become one of Glasgow's most exciting cultural spaces — a place where decades-old market traders sit alongside young designers and street food vendors.

If you were going to invent a venue for Irvine Welsh, you'd invent this one. It has the grit, the character, and the unmistakable Glasgow energy that runs through so much of his work.

What to Expect

Welsh will range across his full literary canon — and that's a lot of ground. Trainspotting, the 1993 novel that turned Edinburgh's heroin crisis into one of the most culturally significant British books of the late twentieth century, will inevitably loom large. But expect deep dives into Filth, his savage portrait of a corrupt Edinburgh detective; Crime, his examination of trauma and guilt; and The Acid House, the short story collection that cemented his reputation for fearless, unfiltered storytelling.

He'll almost certainly discuss Men in Love, his latest Trainspotting sequel published last year, which picks up immediately after the original novel and follows Renton, Sick Boy, Begbie and Spud into the realms of love and relationships in the dying days of the Thatcher era. In recent interviews, Welsh has spoken about wanting to focus on love "as an antidote" to a world "full of hate and poison" — though his version of romance still involves a healthy dose of chaos, betrayal, and profanity.

Welsh is also currently working on a TV adaptation of his 2016 novel The Blade Artist, so there may well be screen news on the night.

Why It Still Matters

More than thirty years after Trainspotting first landed like a grenade in British literature, Welsh remains one of the most vital voices in Scottish writing. He's never stopped evolving — novelist, screenwriter, DJ, cultural commentator — and his willingness to say exactly what he thinks about everything from social media addiction to class politics to artificial intelligence makes him endlessly compelling company.

An intimate evening in a venue like BAaD is a rare chance to experience that energy up close. Don't waste it.

The Details

What: An Audience With Irvine Welsh
When: Thursday 24 April 2026, 7pm
Where: Barras Art & Design (BAaD), 54 Calton Entry, Glasgow, G40 2SB
Tickets: Available via Skiddle — search "An Audience With Irvine Welsh"
Getting there: BAaD is a short walk from the Gallowgate. The nearest rail station is Argyle Street, roughly ten minutes on foot. Multiple bus routes serve the Gallowgate corridor, and there's limited street parking nearby.

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