Ian Rankin
Profession: Author
Age: 51
Hometown: Kingdom of Fife, Scotland
Notable achievements
- Graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 1982, and then spent three years writing novels when he was supposed to be working towards a PhD in Scottish Literature
- A regular No. 1 bestseller, he has received numerous awards, including the Chandler-Fulbright award and four Crime Writers' Association Dagger Awards, including the prestigious Diamond Dagger in 2005
- In 2009, he was inducted into the Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) Hall of Fame; in 2002, he was made an officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to literature
Upcoming
His new book, The Impossible Dead, comes out Oct. 4
Canadian book tour in October:
- The Vancouver International Writers Festival, Oct. 20-22
- Ottawa Writers Festival, Oct. 24
- Toronto International Festival of Authors, Oct. 25-28
- Quebec Writers Festival, Oct. 28
- Montreal, Paragraph Books, Oct. 29
- Halifax, Oct. 30
He’s an international award-winning author famous for his Inspector Rebus novels.
Since publishing his first Rebus novel in 1987, the books have been translated into 22 languages and have topped bestseller lists on several continents.
Mystery writer Ian Rankin’s second book in his latest series hits bookshelves in a few weeks, followed by a coast-to-coast Canadian tour.
When he’s back home in Edinburgh, Rankin drives a 2004 Volvo XC90, a 2006 Volkswagen Beetle, and a 2011 Volkswagen Caravelle SE van, which he had modified so he could transport his teenage son, who is in a wheelchair.
Why did you choose a VW Caravelle to modify?
My youngest son, Kit, is 17 and he’s in a wheelchair. He’s such a weight now – he’s so heavy that transferring him from the wheelchair to the Volvo and back to his wheelchair was getting too much for us. So, there’s this company in England called Lewis Reed and you take whatever van you want brand new and they modify it.
I bought it brand new from a dealership in April. It’s a top-of-the-line van – a Caravelle SE, which stands for special equipment. It’s got electric doors and a picnic table in the back, leather seats, an iPod dock and sat nav. It’s got everything.
We didn’t want to buy a van that felt like a van to drive. I didn’t want to feel like a delivery guy. When we took it out for a test drive, it was very smooth. It’s very easy to manoeuvre and comfortable so you can do a nice long drive and you don’t feel like you’re delivering furniture with it.
The nice thing about the VW is there are an awful lot of options. The seats will switch around 180 degrees so the two of you can be facing each other in the back. You can take the individual seats out and put them back in again very easily. It can take six of us – five plus a wheelchair. I quite like the sliding side doors so again you can get into the van to deal with Kit without leaving too much of a gap between you and the vehicle next to you when you’re parked.
What modifications did you have done?
They put in wheelchair ramps at the back so you can push the wheelchair up and into the van. And they put a pneumatic suspension at the back so you can lower the back of the van and once the wheelchair is in you can raise it up again.
They added all the fixings you need – you need four points in the floor where you can attach straps to the wheels to stop the wheelchair from moving.
The ramp is great. It’s made a big difference because he just gets into the wheelchair and straight into the vehicle and within a couple of minutes you’re moving – you’re off and running.
