Liam McIlvanney was born in Scotland and studied at the universities of Glasgow and Oxford. He has written for numerous publications, including the London Review of Books, the Times Literary Supplement, the Guardian, the Irish Times and the New Zealand Listener.

His debut, Burns the Radical, won the Saltire First Book Award, Where the Dead Men Go won the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel, and The Quaker, won the McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Book of the Year.

His new novel is The Good Father. He is Stuart Professor of Scottish Studies at the University of Otago, New Zealand. He lives in Dunedin with his wife and four sons.