Publications: books
2009, Rob Roy, Scotnote (ASLS: Glasgow).
2010, Local Hero, Scotnote (ASLS: Glasgow).
2011, Lost Bodies, psychological thriller, (Kennedy and Boyd: Glasgow).
2014, The Glass Half Full: Moving Beyond Scottish Miserablism, co-authored with Eleanor Yule, (Luath Press: Edinburgh).
2023, The Anti-hero’s Journey: the Work and Life of Alan Sharp, monograph (Peter Lang: Zurich).
Short stories, extracts, opinion, reviews
’A Caller’, short story, Northern Light, (Aberdeen), 1980; ‘Perfection’, novel extract, Gutter 4, (Glasgow), 2011; ‘Expressions’, short story , ‘Communications’, novel extract, West Coast Magazine (Glasgow), 1992/1994; ‘From a Western Empire: the ‘Isms’ of Alasdair Gray’, essay, Chapman 97, (Edinburgh), 2000; ‘Inkerman’, long short story, Ecloga, (Strathclyde), 2005; ‘Skin’, novella opening, Valve, (Strathclyde), 2011; ‘On the Beach’, short story, Valve, (Strathclyde), 2012; ‘The Other’, short story, Word Jig: New Writing from Scotland, (New York), 2003, ‘Under the Influence’, short, A Little Touch of Cliff in the Evening: New Writing Scotland, 2011, ‘Best Man’, The Scotia Writers’ Prize, Edinburgh, 1990; Reviews: The Bottle Imp (2023-5); ‘Language, Freedom, Voice’, Declarations: Scottish PEN (Glasgow, 2020); ‘The End of the World, novel opening, Laldy, (Paisley) 2018; Scottish PEN website (2024), ‘Publish and Perish’, opinion, Byline Scotland, 2024; 26 Treasures (Unbound).
Appreciation: ‘The Tannahill Weavers’, article, The Living Tradition, (Kilmarnock), 2003.
Non-fiction
Introduction to Night Moves by Alan Sharp, (novelisation), with Matthew Gear, 2025, forthcoming.
Academic
‘Location, dislocation’, critical article, Literary Tourism: The Trossachs and Walter Scott, (ASLS), 2012.
‘Wattie Goes to Hollywood: Scott, Scotland and Film’, article, The Bottle Imp, (Glasgow), 2013.
‘The Noctes Ambrosianae and the Highlands‘, article, Gaels and Lowlanders in Scottish Literature, (ASLS, 2015).
‘Making the Ordinary Extraordinary: Collaborative Wayfaring and Creative Writing’, critical article, Exploring Creative Writing: Voices from the Great Writing Conference, (Cambridge Scholars), 2016.
Reviews for Lost Bodies
‘Psychological thriller with terrific pacing, realistic dialogue and finely drawn characterisation… David Manderson’s debut novel is both a literary novel and a compelling page turner.’ Bookrambler, June 2011.
‘Manderson is able to control expertly, in his use of focused and fragmentary narrative, the unfolding sense of the ordinariness of the monstrous, and the self-justification of evil… this is incredibly powerful stuff.’ Paul Wright, New Writing in Education, 2012.
‘I read it with the greatest pleasure.’ Zoe Wicomb, novelist and short story writer.
‘A powerful and uncomfortable narrative… A psychologically rich study… and a gripping narrative.’ Tom Pow (poet, novelist, young adult author).
Reviews for The Anti-hero’s Journey
’’I’m so grateful for the work and devotion you’ve put into this.’ Lem Dobbs, screenwriter The Limey, Dark City.
’This labour of love is everything a critical biography should be, more than capable of restoring Sharp’s reputation, giving him his rightful place in both Scottish literature and Scottish screen writing history.’ Carl MacDougall, novelist, editor, short stories, memoir.
’If Alan Sharp’s career was a unique one within modern Scottish culture, it has proved an underexplored one within modern Scottish Cultural Studies. The Anti-hero’s Journey remedies that collective oversight.’ Jonathan Murray, Senior Lecturer, Edinburgh College of Art.
’Sharp is one of my screenwriting heroes… [It is] deeply gratifying to see his life celebrated and historicised.’ Howard Rodman, screenwriter, professor, former President Writers Guild of America (West).
’An extraordinary book.’ Valentina Bold, writer, researcher, Peter Lang series editor.
’Author hopes to put Alan Sharp’s work back in Spotlight’, Greenock Telegraph, 9 July 2023.
‘For the first time, David has made the progression of Sharp’s career across multiple genres visible in a single piece of research’, Eleanor Thom, novelist. (‘If you don’t go away you can’t come back: Rediscovering the writing of Alan Sharp’, Bella Caledonia, 2 June 2023.
’In this splendid book, writer David Manderson provides a detailed critical account of the writer’s work and a compelling case for the importance of Sharp’s contributions to literature, radio drama, television drama and cinema.’ https://ragmansbugle.wordpress.com, Gordon Gibson, Ragman’s Bugle, 6 October 2023.
‘So glad to have worked on this book!’ Lucy Melville, Global Publishing Director, Peter Lang Publishers.
’I hope this book does well. It deserves to.’ Alan Riach, Professor of Scottish Literature, Glasgow University.
’Manderson’s book demonstrates that Sharp’s oeuvre, including his film scripts, is that of a psychologically acute writer, and that he never lost his writerly integrity… [He] justifiably restores Sharp to the canon of 20th century Scottish writing… My choice for Scottish book of the year.’ Mario Relich, Scottish Affairs, Vol. 33, Issue 2, May 2024, full text: https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/abs/10.3366/scot.2024.0503
Reviews of ‘From Greenock to Hollywood’ film season, September 2023, Glasgow Film Theatre
’Some great stuff is happening in Scottish cinemas in September. I’m particularly excited for a mini-Alan Sharp season retrospective @glasgowfilm. Very much looking forward to seeing Ulzana’s Raid and Night Moves – two of my fave films – on the big screen’, https://www.theskinny.co.uk/film/film-events/scottish-film-events-september-2023, Jamie Dunn, The Skinny, 31 August 2023.
’Great night @gft watching Night Moves, part of the Alan Sharp retrospective’ @endlessrich
Articles
’Leela Soma obituary: Indian-Scottish novelist who created DI Patel, an investigator as worthy as Rebus or Laidlaw’, The Herald, 7 January, 2023.
’Carl MacDougall obituary: Novelist at the forefront of revolution in Scottish Writing’, The Herald, 22nd April, 2023.
’Wattie Goes to Hollywood: Scott, Scotland and Film’, The Bottle Imp, May 2013, https://www.thebottleimp.org.uk/2013/05/wattie-goes-to-hollywood-scott-scotland-and-film/
‘Publish and Perish: the state of the arts in Glasgow’, Scottish PEN website, https://scottishpen.org/publish-and-perish-the-arts-in-glasgow-today
’Language, Freedom, Voice’, Scottish PEN: Declarations: on Freedom for Writers and Readers: Anniversary of the Treaty of Arbroath, Scotland Street: 2020.
’Publish and Perish: The arts in Glasgow today: a city’s creative heart in peril from funding cuts’, Byelines Scotland, London, 21 December 2024, https://bylines.scot/lifestyle/publish-and-perish.
Reviews
’Crombie Saunders: Collected Poems’, edited by Donald Goodbrand Saunders, ‘The Bottle Imp’, August 2022.
’Portrait’ by Tracy Patrick, ‘The Bottle Imp’, March 2023, https://www.thebottleimp.org.uk/2023/03/portrait-by-tracy-patrick/
’Underwood’ by Stewart Conn, ‘The Bottle Imp’, July 2023, https://www.thebottleimp.org.uk/2023/07/underwood-by-stewart-conn/
‘Dreams of Scottish Youth: a Seventies Odyssey, Vols 1 & 2’ by Graham Fulton, ‘The Bottle Imp’, November 2023. https://www.thebottleimp.org.uk/2023/11/dreams-of-scottish-youth-a-seventies-odyssey-vols-1-2-by-graham-fulton/
Already, Too Late by Carl MacDougall, ‘The Bottle Imp’, April 2024, forthcoming.
Two Worlds by David Daiches, PEN International, May 2024, forthcoming.
Blank Pages by Bernard MacLaverty, ‘The Bottle Imp’, Autumn 2024.
Cinema, Culture, Scotland: Selected Essays by Colin McArthur, ‘The Bottle Imp’, ed. Jonathan Murray, May 2024.
Lost People by Margaret Elphinstone, ‘The Bottle Imp’, Spring 2025 (forthcoming).
Duck Feet by Ely Percy, ‘The Bottle Imp’, Spring 2025 (forthcoming).
Edinburgh Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Writers, entries on Raymond Friel, Thomas Healy, Alan Sharp, Neal Ascherson, Frederic Lindsay, Lorn McIntyre, High C. Rae, Rab Wilson, Roddy McMillan, Bud Neill… (eds., Caroline McCracken-Flesher, Alan Riach), EUP, forthcoming.
Editing, Organising
I founded and edited the creative writing magazine Nerve, with Linda Jaxson and Brian Whittingham, for four years; ran the Real to Reel Student film festival at the Glasgow Film Theatre for ten; and hosted the Reading Allowed spoken word event, at the Tchai Ovna Cafe in Glasgow, for another decade .
Talks/launches/appearances/conferences/exhibitions
’WORD at the Warehouse’, Rig Arts, The Tobacco House, Greenock, May 28 2022.
’The Anti-hero’s Transnational Journey’, World Congress of Scottish Literatures, Prague, June 2022.
’The Passion Project’, online Zoom talk, Society of Authors in Scotland, December 2022.
Glasgow Literary Lounge, The Scotia Bar, March-September 2023.
Scottish Writers Centre, Centre for Contemporary Arts, Glasgow, April 2023.
Keynote, Strathclyde University conference, May 2023.
Interviewer/host, ‘Working from Research to Publication’, Zoom talk by Matthew Gear, Society of Authors, September 2024.
Host, ‘From Lviv to Berlin: Catherine Czerkawska and Eleanor Thom’, Tidelines Festival, Irvine, September 2023.
’’Sharp, Stevenson and the Beach’: Intertextual Stevenson Conference, Bochum University, Bochum, Germany, June 2024.
’Alan Sharp and Robert Burns’, Greenock Burns Club/Inverclyde Historical Society, 6 March 2025.
Reading: extract from Darksound (new novel), Avant Garde, Glasgow, 4 March 2025.
Presentation: Alan Sharp: Going Away and Coming Back’, the Wyllium Gallery, Greenock, April 2025 (forthcoming).
Host, Society of Authors: Zoom talk by John McGlade (author of Invisible Schemes, Palavro Publishing: 2022): ‘Writing for television and publishing fiction’, tbc April/May 2025.
’From Greenock to Hollywood’, film season, Inverclyde Film Festival, Waterfront Cinema, November 2025 (forthcoming).
Film events/screenings
Prize-winning short: ‘Expedition’, animated by Samantha Hendry (2017), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22wCbuPD52w
‘From Greenock to Hollywood: an Alan Sharp season’, Glasgow Film Theatre, 4-28 September, 2023, https://www.glasgowfilm.org/alan-sharp-from-greenock-to-hollywood.
Greenock Telegraph: https://www.greenocktelegraph.co.uk/news/23769638.gft-host-season-celebrating-work-greenocks-alan-sharp/, 6th September, 2023.
Alan Sharp season, Waterfront, Inverclyde Community Festival, October 2025.
Radio interviews
Pat’s West End guide podcast, Interview, 18 October 2023, https://www.glasgowwestend.co.uk/dave-manderson-jim-and-pats-west-end-chat-podcast.
‘Go West Young Man’, ScotsWhaeHae! podcast, June 2023, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBjy9QsKFJg.
‘In Memoriam: Carl MacDougall’, ScotsWhaeHae! podcast, November 2023, https://www.scotswhayhae.com/post/in-praise-of-carl-macdougall-the-swh-podcast-talks-to-david-manderson-ricky-monahan-brown.
‘David Manderson on Alan Sharp’, The Projection Booth podcast, 18 December 2023, https://www.spreaker.com/user/cstachiw/epx469-david-manderson?utm_campaign=episode-title&utm_medium=app&utm_source=widget.
Prizes
Scottish Arts Council, New Writers’ Award, 1998.
Project 26, ‘Orwell on Jura’: Highly Commended : 26 Postcodes (Orwell on Jura), 2016.
Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowship, Grez-sur-Loing, 2017.
British Student Television Award, with Samantha Hendry.
Memberships
I have served on the Board of Scottish PEN for eight years, including spells as chair of the Writers for Peace committee. I am the organiser of the Glasgow group for the Society of Authors.