Scottish author Iain Banks - who died of cancer in 2013 - would have been 61 yesterday. His previously unpublished collection of poetry, Poems, has just been published.
Banks enjoyed a double whammy career as an author, selling in vast quantities in literary fiction as Iain Banks, and in science fiction, as Iain M Banks.
His last novel, The Quarry, was published 11 days after his death from gall bladder cancer in June 2013.
Banks's first work to actually see the light of day was a poem called 041, which appeared in New Writing Scotland in 1983. Typically he showed his poetry to friends, or used it in his novels. That is until 2012, when his friend and fellow author Ken McLeod agreed to a joint publication of poems written in the years since they were school pals.
Banks's bestselling novel, The Crow Road - a BBC television series in 1996 - employs lines of poetry throughout. His 1990 science fiction novel, Use of Weapons begins and ends with two poems.
