Scottish author Douglas Stuart has revealed his plans for adapting his classic novels Shuggie Bain and Young Mungo for the big screen after he was presented with an honorary degree by the University of Glasgow.
The 47-year-old, who was born in Glasgow, said it is “a lovely thing to be recognised by your home town” following the event as he unveiled his plans on adapting Young Mungo and Shuggie Bain for the screen with production company A24.
Stuart won the Booker Prize in 2020 with his debut novel Shuggie Bain, which is set in 1980s Glasgow and is about a young boy growing up amid addiction and poverty, while his second book Young Mungo was published last year.
Now living in New York, Stuart is also now working on his third novel and said his new book will explore some of the themes of his previous novels to form a kind of “tapestry”.
Speaking after the ceremony, he said: “I’m just incredibly proud to get the honorary degree from Glasgow University.
“Glasgow is my home town and I grew up about two miles from the university, but as a young man growing up I didn’t feel like university life was for me, and so to be here today, I’m just very proud, I think my ancestors would be proud, I hope my family are proud.
“Every word in my novels is inspired by the city of Glasgow so it is a lovely thing to be recognised by your home town and to make a little bit of history here.”
Olympic athlete Laura Muir, a graduate of the university, and Professor Sir Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer for England, were also among those recognised at the commemoration day event on Wednesday.
Stuart has an MA from the Royal College of Art in London and has lived in New York City since 2000, where he has worked in fashion and said that although he lives in New York, there is “no place like Glasgow in the world”.
Stuart added: “I come home all the time, my family still live in the streets that I write about and whenever I feel a bit lost or I feel a bit confused or I feel like I’m not making sense in the world, I come home to Glasgow and I can be exactly myself, so I’m home in Glasgow all the time.”
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