Dismissed as "brainless" at school, Alan Markland's one saving grace was his ability to read. It grew into a passion for books and reading which survived years of alcoholism and eventual homelessness. He was in his sixties when he began to realise his true vocation as a writer. Markland describes his early education as "perfunctory." An early school report read: "The boy is brainless, but he can read". So he reads. The more Alan read, the more he understood, and the more curious he became about the deeper meaning of the things he read. He began to see what novels are all about. In his sixties and keen to "fill the void" in his literary education, Alan enrolled on a BA in English literature at Bolton University. One of the tutors said on the first day of his module, "Reading Blake can change your life". And it did, it clicked and I felt it click. Looking back on his years of alcoholism, Alan regards them as not only some of the most dramatic but also some of the most important years of his life because, he says, "of what came after."