Iain Banks was born in Dunfermline in Fife on the 16th February 1954. He now lives in Fife with his wife Annie, completing a circular journey begun by movements instigated during his childhood, when Banks’ family moved to Gourock as a result of his father’s career as an admiralty officer. He experienced life in the contrasting east and west of Scotland, and hybridity of identity is apparent in much of his work. He was educated at Gourock and Greenock High Schools and at the University of Stirling, where he took a BA in English, Philosophy and Psychology in 1975. After taking various jobs – from technician at the Nigg Bay oil platform construction site, and in the IBM computer plant at Greenock, to clerk in a law firm in London - he returned to Scotland in 1988.

His first novel, The Wasp Factory, was published in 1984 when Banks was just thirty years old. The novel set the tone for much of the rest of his work, with its characteristic mix of fantasy and reality, and the proximity of violence and close human relationships. As Iain M(enzies) Banks, he has published several highly successful science fiction novels and 'space operas', and become something of a cult figure on the SF scene. He has spoken at a number of conferences and conventions on the genre, and there are several websites devoted to, in particular, his ‘Culture’ novels. He has also published non-fiction, including restaurant reviews, and a recent guide to and celebration of malt whisky, Raw Spirit (2003). In 2004, he resigned his membership of the prestigious Scotch Malt Whisky Society amidst controversy over the club’s take-over by drinks company Glenmorangie, and potential consequent loss of autonomy. Banks's often overtly political stance, evident in much of his fiction, is again apparent here.

His notoriously fast pace of writing means that Banks often takes less than three months to complete a novel, leaving him the rest of the year to enjoy pastimes including computers, cars and whisky appreciation, although it must be stressed not all at the same time.