Irvine Welsh on Cork: 'People were playing music everywhere, it had a great vibe'

The Trainspotting author has a new novel, and is also on his way to Bantry for West Cork Literary Festival  

 Irvine Welsh will read in Bantry on Sunday. (Photo by Euan Cherry/Getty Images)

“A cross between a demented jakey ranting at you in a pub and a chin-stroking intellectual on a college campus.” 

I’ve just asked Irvine Welsh how he would describe his writing. For those who are not up on Scottish slang, jakey is the word for someone of a dishevelled nature who is excessively fond of imbibing methylated spirits. “I tend to be quite high and low culture, I don’t really make any distinction between them,” Welsh adds.