Iain Menzies Banks ( / ˈ m ɪ ŋ ɪ z / ; 16 February 1954 – 9 June 2013) was a Scottish writer who wrote books in two different styles. He used the name Iain Banks for non-science fiction books and Iain M. Banks for science fiction books. His works have been turned into plays, radio shows, and TV programs. In 2008, The Times listed Banks among the 50 greatest British writers since 1945.

Banks started writing full-time after his first book, The Wasp Factory (1984), became successful. This book has sold over a million copies and been translated into 80 languages. In 1997, it was named one of the 100 best books of the 20th century. In 2016, it was ranked the second-best Scottish novel of all time in a BBC Scotland poll. His first science fiction book, Consider Phlebas (1987), began the Culture series, which includes ten novels.

In April 2013, Banks announced he had a type of cancer that could not be cured and likely would not live longer than a year. He passed away on 9 June 2013 at the age of 59.

Early life

Ian Banks was born in Dunfermline, Fife, to a mother who was a professional ice skater and a father who worked in the Admiralty. As an only child, he lived in North Queensferry until he was nine years old, near the naval dockyards in Rosyth, where his father was stationed. Later, the family moved to Gourock because of his father’s job. When someone gave him a book called Kemlo and the Zones of Silence by Reginald Alec Martin, he became interested in science fiction and began writing stories in that genre himself. Banks attended Gourock and Greenock High Schools. From 1972 to 1975, he studied English, philosophy, and psychology at the University of Stirling.

After finishing school, Banks worked a series of jobs that allowed him to write in the evenings. These jobs provided income for his writing during his twenties and gave him time to take long breaks between assignments, during which he traveled across Europe and North America. During this time, he worked as an IBM Expediter Analyser (a type of clerk who helps buy supplies), a testing technician for the British Steel Corporation, and a costing clerk for a law firm in London’s Chancery Lane.

Career

Iain Banks began writing at age 11. He finished his first novel, The Hungarian Lift-Jet, at 16 and his second, TTR (also called The Tashkent Rambler), during his first year at Stirling University in 1972. Although he considered himself mainly a science fiction writer, problems with publishing led him to try writing mainstream fiction. His first published novel, The Wasp Factory, came out in 1984 when he was 30. After The Wasp Factory became successful, Banks began writing full time. His editor at Macmillan, James Hale, suggested he write one book each year, which he agreed to do.

His second novel, Walking on Glass, was published in 1985, followed by The Bridge in 1986 and Espedair Street in 1987. Espedair Street was later broadcast as a radio series on BBC Radio 4. His first published science fiction book, Consider Phlebas, appeared in 1987 and was the first in the well-known Culture series. Banks listed Robert A. Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Brian Aldiss, M. John Harrison, and Dan Simmons as influences. The Crow Road, published in 1992, was turned into a BBC television series. Banks continued to write both science fiction and mainstream books. In 2004, he wrote Raw Spirit (with the subtitle In Search of the Perfect Dram), a travel book about his visits to whisky distilleries in Scotland and his thoughts on other topics like roads, cars, and politics.

Banks published work under two names. His parents named him "Iain Menzies Banks," but his father forgot to include the middle name when registering his birth. Banks still used the middle name and submitted The Wasp Factory for publication as "Iain M. Banks." His editor asked if he could remove the "M" because it might cause confusion with another writer, Rosie M. Banks. Banks agreed. After three mainstream novels, his publishers allowed him to publish his first science fiction novel, Consider Phlebas. To separate his mainstream and science fiction works, Banks added the "M" back to his name, which he used for all his science fiction books. Banks was scheduled to be a guest of honor at the 2014 World Science Fiction Convention, Loncon 3, but he died the year before.

By the time of his death in June 2013, Banks had published 26 novels. His final novel, The Quarry, was released in June 2013, the same month he died, and was published posthumously as his 27th novel. His final work, a poetry collection, was published in February 2015. In January 2013, he mentioned he had an idea for another novel in the Culture series, which was planned for release in 2014. Banks wrote in many categories but said he enjoyed science fiction the most.

In February 2018, a project to publish Banks’s early drawings, maps, and sketches from the Culture universe, along with his writings and notes, was underway. In 2021, a single-volume edition of The Culture: Notes and Drawings was canceled and replaced with two separate books: a landscape artbook titled The Culture: The Drawings and a companion volume with notes, excerpts, and new text by Ken MacLeod. The Culture: The Drawings was released on November 7, 2023, while the second book was scheduled for late 2024.

Banks was the subject of a 1997 TV documentary, The Strange Worlds of Iain Banks, which focused on his mainstream writing. He also appeared on the final episode of Marc Riley’s Rocket Science radio show, broadcast on BBC Radio 6 Music. An audio version of The Business, set to contemporary music by Paul Oakenfold, was broadcast in October 1999 on Galaxy FM. The State of the Art, adapted for radio by Paul Cornell, was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2009. In 1998, Espedair Street was dramatized as a serial on BBC Radio 4, presented by Paul Gambaccini in the style of a Radio 1 documentary.

In 2011, Banks appeared on BBC Radio 4’s Saturday Live, where he reaffirmed his atheism, describing death as a natural part of life that should be accepted rather than feared. He also appeared on Question Time, a program about politics, and in 2006, he led a team of writers to victory in a special edition of University Challenge on BBC Two. He won a 2006 episode of Celebrity Mastermind on BBC One, choosing "Malt whisky and the distilleries of Scotland" as his specialist subject.

His final interview was with Kirsty Wark, broadcast on BBC Two Scotland as Iain Banks: Raw Spirit on June 12, 2013. An adaptation of his novel Stonemouth was broadcast on BBC One Scotland and BBC Two in June 2015.

Banks was involved in the stage production The Curse of Iain Banks, written by Maxton Walker and performed at the Edinburgh Fringe festival in 1999. He often worked with composer Gary Lloyd, including on a song collection as a tribute to the fictional band Frozen Gold from Espedair Street. Lloyd also composed the soundtrack for a spoken word and music version of The Bridge, which Banks narrated and featured 40 musicians. The recording was released on CD by Codex Records in 1996. Lloyd explained his collaboration with Banks in a Guardian article before the opening of The Curse of Iain Banks.

Politics

Banks's political views are described as left of centre. In 2002, he supported the Scottish Socialist Party.

He was a member of the National Secular Society and supported the Humanist Society Scotland. He signed the Declaration of Calton Hill, which showed his support for Scottish independence. In November 2012, he backed a group formed after a meeting called the Radical Independence Conference. He said the independence movement was marked by cooperation, stating, "Scots just seem to be more communitarian than the consensus expressed by the UK population as a whole."

In late 2004, Banks joined a group of UK politicians and media figures who wanted to have Prime Minister Tony Blair impeached after the 2003 invasion of Iraq. In protest, he cut up his passport and sent it to 10 Downing Street. In an interview, he explained that he decided not to drive his vehicle through a dockyard after seeing armed guards. He shared his concerns about the Iraq invasion in his book Raw Spirit and through a character named Alban McGill in the novel The Steep Approach to Garbadale, who made similar arguments.

In 2010, Banks called for a boycott of Israeli cultural and educational institutions after the Gaza flotilla raid. In a letter to The Guardian newspaper, he said he had told his agent to refuse further book translation deals with Israeli publishers.

An excerpt from Banks's contribution to the book Generation Palestine: Voices from the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement, titled "Our People," was published in The Guardian after he revealed he had cancer. The excerpt explained his support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign, which was started by Palestinian civil society in 2005. The campaign draws lessons from Banks's experience with South Africa's apartheid era. The excerpt confirmed his continued refusal to work with Israeli publishers for his books. He also said, "I don't buy Israeli-sourced products or food, and my partner and I try to support Palestinian-sourced products wherever possible."

Personal life

Iain Banks met his first wife, Annie, in London before his first book was published in 1984. They lived in Faversham, a town in southern England, but separated in 1988. Banks returned to Edinburgh and dated another woman for two years. After she left him, he and Annie got back together and moved to Fife. They married in Hawaii in 1992, but they separated in 2005 after 15 years of marriage.

In 1998, Banks was in an almost deadly accident when his car rolled off the road. In February 2007, he sold many of his cars, including a Porsche Boxster, a Porsche 911 Turbo, a Jaguar Mark II, a BMW M5, and a Land Rover Defender. He upgraded the Land Rover’s power by about 50%. He traded all these cars for a Lexus RX 400h hybrid, which he later replaced with a diesel Toyota Yaris. He said he would only fly in emergencies in the future.

In April 2012, Banks became the "Acting Honorary Non-Executive Figurehead President Elect pro tem (trainee)" of the Science Fiction Book Club in London. He created the title, and on October 3, 2012, he accepted a T-shirt with it printed on it.

From 1991, Banks lived in North Queensferry, a town on the north side of the Firth of Forth. Later, his girlfriend Adele Hartley, a horror writer who founded an Edinburgh festival called Dead by Dawn, joined him. They met in 1989 and began a relationship in the early 2000s. They married on March 29, 2013, after he asked her to "do me the honour of becoming my widow."

On April 3, 2013, Banks revealed he had been diagnosed with terminal gallbladder cancer and was unlikely to live beyond a year. He said he would stop all public activities and that The Quarry would be his last novel. The book’s release dates were moved earlier, to June 20, 2013, in the UK and June 25, 2013, in the US and Canada. He died in Kirkcaldy on June 9, 2013, at the age of 59.

Banks’s publisher called him "an irreplaceable part of the literary world." Fellow Scottish author Ken MacLeod, who knew him since secondary school, said his death "left a large gap in the Scottish literary scene as well as the wider English-speaking world." British author Charles Stross wrote, "One of the giants of 20th and 21st century Scottish literature has left the building." Other authors, including Neil Gaiman, Ian Rankin, Alastair Reynolds, and David Brin, also honored him in blogs and other writings.

An asteroid named 5099 Iainbanks was named after him shortly after his death. On January 23, 2015, SpaceX’s CEO Elon Musk named two of the company’s autonomous spaceport drone ships Just Read The Instructions and Of Course I Still Love You, after ships in Banks’s novel The Player of Games. Another, A Shortfall of Gravitas, began construction in 2018. This refers to the ship Experiencing A Significant Gravitas Shortfall, first mentioned in Look to Windward.

The 2016 graphic biography The Red Virgin and the Vision of Utopia, about Louise Michel by Mary M. Talbot and Bryan Talbot, is "Dedicated to the memory of Iain (M) Banks, friend and sorely missed creator of socialist utopias."

Empire Games, the seventh book in The Merchant Princes series by Charles Stross, published in 2017, is dedicated "For Iain M. Banks, who painted a picture of a better way."

On May 13, 2019, the Five Deeps Expedition broke the deepest ocean dive record using the DSV Limiting Factor. The support ship was named DSSV Pressure Drop. Both vessels were named after ships in the Culture series, which is admired by explorer Victor Vescovo, the financial sponsor behind the Limiting Factor’s design and construction. They also have landers named "Flere," "Skaff," and "Closp," named after Culture drones.

Awards and nominations

Iain Banks received these literary awards and nominations:

• 1988: British Science Fiction Association Award for The Player of Games (nominated)
• 1990: British Science Fiction Association Award for Use of Weapons (nominated)
• 1991: Arthur C. Clarke Award for Use of Weapons (nominated)
• 1991: Kurd-Laßwitz-Preis for Foreign Novel The Bridge (won)
• 1992: Kurd-Laßwitz-Preis for Foreign Novel The Wasp Factory (won)
• 1993: Kurd-Laßwitz-Preis for Foreign Novel Use of Weapons (won)
• 1994: British Science Fiction Association Award for Feersum Endjinn (won)
• 1994: Locus Poll Award for Against a Dark Background (nominated)
• 1996: British Science Fiction Association Award for Excession (won)
• 1997: University of St Andrews honorary degree
• 1997: University of Stirling honorary doctorate
• 1997: British Fantasy Award for Excession (nominated)
• 1998: British Science Fiction Award for Inversions (nominated)
• 1998: Kurd-Laßwitz-Preis for Foreign Novel Excession (won)
• 2001: Locus Poll Award for Look to Windward (nominated)
• 2004: Premio Italia Science Fiction Award in the Best International Novel category for Inversions (won)
• 2005: Hugo Award for The Algebraist (nominated)
• 2005: Locus Poll Award for The Algebraist (nominated)
• 2009: Locus Poll Award for Matter (second place)
• 2009: Prometheus Award for Matter (nominated)
• 2010: Open University honorary doctorate
• 2010: John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Transition (finalist)
• 2010: Locus Poll Award for Transition (nominated)
• 2011: Locus Poll Award for Surface Detail (nominated)
• 2013: Honorary Fellow of the Association for Scottish Literary Studies

Publications

Iain M. Banks's non-sci-fi work includes fourteen novels and one non-fiction book. Many of his novels include parts of his own life and describe places in his home country, Scotland.

• The Wasp Factory (1984). London: Macmillan. ISBN 0-333-36380-9.
• Walking on Glass (1985). London: Macmillan. ISBN 0-333-37986-1.
• The Bridge (1986). London: Macmillan. ISBN 0-333-41285-0.
• Espedair Street (1987). London: Macmillan. ISBN 0-333-44916-9. Adapted for BBC radio in 1998 (directed by Dave Batchelor).
• Canal Dreams (1989). London: Macmillan. ISBN 0-333-51768-7.
• The Crow Road (1992). London: Scribners. ISBN 0-356-20652-1. Adapted for BBC TV in 1996 (directed by Gavin Millar).
• Complicity (1993). London: Little, Brown Book Group. ISBN 0-316-90688-3. Filmed in 2000 (directed by Gavin Millar); retitled Retribution for its US DVD/video release.
• Whit (1995). London: Little, Brown Book Group. ISBN 0-316-91436-3.
• A Song of Stone (1997). London: Abacus. ISBN 0-316-64016-6.
• The Business (1999). London: Little, Brown Book Group. ISBN 0-316-64844-2.
• Dead Air (2002). London: Little, Brown Book Group. ISBN 0-316-86054-9.
• The Steep Approach to Garbadale (2007). London: Little, Brown Book Group. ISBN 978-0-316-73105-8.
• Stonemouth (2012). London: Little, Brown Book Group. ISBN 978-1-4087-0250-5. Adapted for BBC TV for broadcast in 2015 (directed by Charles Martin).
• The Quarry (2013). London: Little, Brown Book Group. ISBN 978-1-4087-0394-6.

• Raw Spirit (2003). London: Century. ISBN 1-84413-195-5 – a book about traveling in Scotland and its whisky distilleries.
• Poems (with Ken MacLeod) (2015). London: Little, Brown Group. ISBN 978-1-4087-0587-2.

Banks wrote thirteen sci-fi novels, nine of which are part of the Culture series, and a short story collection called The State of the Art (1991). These stories are set in the same universe. The Culture series describes a society with no scarcity and no need for government, controlled by artificial intelligences called "Minds." Other civilizations exist in this universe, and the Culture sometimes tries to influence or contact them, which can lead to conflict.

• Consider Phlebas (1987). London: Macmillan. ISBN 0-333-44138-9.
• The Player of Games (1988). London: Macmillan. ISBN 0-333-47110-5.
• The State of the Art novella (1989). Willimantic, CT: Ziesing. ISBN 0-929480-06-6 – also included below in short fiction collections, but included here because it is considered part of the Culture series.
• Use of Weapons (1990). London: Orbit. ISBN 0-356-19160-5.
• Excession (1996). London: Orbit. ISBN 1-85723-394-8.
• Inversions (1998). London: Orbit. ISBN 1-85723-626-2.
• Look to Windward (2000). London: Orbit. ISBN 1-85723-969-5.
• Matter (2008). London: Orbit. ISBN 978-1-84149-417-3.
• Surface Detail (2010). London: Orbit. ISBN 978-1-84149-893-5.
• The Hydrogen Sonata (2012). London: Orbit. ISBN 978-0-356-50150-5.

• The Culture: The Drawings (2023). London: Orbit. ISBN 978-0-356-51942-5.

• Against a Dark Background (1993). London: Orbit. ISBN 1-85723-031-0.
• Feersum Endjinn (1994). London: Orbit. ISBN 1-85723-235-6.
• The Algebraist (2004). London: Orbit. ISBN 1-84149-155-1.
• Transition (2009). London: Little, Brown Book Group. ISBN 978-0-316-73107-2. (Published in the United States as Iain M. Banks.)

• The State of the Art (1991). London: Orbit. ISBN 0-356-19669-0. Includes three short works set in the Culture universe. It also includes stories more typical of Banks's writing as Iain Banks. A radio version of the title story was broadcast by Radio 4 in 2009.
• The Spheres (Birmingham Science Fiction Group, 2010). Includes The Spheres, removed from the original draft of Transition; and The Secret Courtyard, removed from Matter. Limited edition of 500, to mark Novacon 40.

Banks wrote introductions for books by other authors, including:

• Viriconium (1988) by M. John Harrison, the Unwin edition, ISBN 0-04-440245-7.
• *The Adventures of Luther Arkwright: Book 3, Göt