Scottish author has "retired from public life" after receiving dementia diagnosis

Ms Galloway’s agent Juliet Pickering, said the author had been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s in 2019, a year after first noticing changes to her memory.

The announcement comes as the author’s best-known novel, The Trick is to Keep Breathing, which was published in 1990 and won the MIND/Allan Lane Book of the Year, is to be performed on stage as part of the National Theatre of Scotland’s 2027 programme, revealed today.

Ms Pickering said: “Janice Galloway first noticed changes in her memory in 2018. The following year, she was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s dementia. Janice knew that her final - and very happy - public appearance would be at the Paisley Book Festival in February 2020. With great regret, she subsequently withdrew from public life.

“Since then, with the support of her family and friends, Janice has navigated the profoundly challenging journey of living with Alzheimer’s. She has, through it all, retained the remarkable warmth and humour that have always been so much a part of who she is.”

She added: “We know that Janice would be both excited and honoured that the National Theatre of Scotland is to stage Michael Boyd’s theatrical adaptation of The Trick Is to Keep Breathing. On her behalf, we wish this celebration of Janice and Michael’s work every possible success.”

NTS said Ms Galloway’s family was “thrilled” that the production, which will tour Edinburgh, Glasgow and Pitlochry in May and June next year and is adapted for the stage by Michael Boyd, who died in 2023, would “celebrate Janice’s living legacy”.

Born in Saltcoats, Ms Galloway now lives in Fife and has an adult son, James.

In 2023, she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, while a year later, she was awarded an honorary degree by the University of Glasgow.

She is the author of novels including include Clara, This is Not About Me and Jellyfish which was published in 2019, as well as short stories, volumes of life writing, a handful of collaborative books of short fiction and poetry with sculptor Anne Bevan. Meanwhile she has also been writer in residence to four Scottish prisons, a research fellow to the British Library, resident at Jura Distillery, and was the first fellow in residence at the University of Otago in New Zealand.

Her radio work includes two series for BBC - Life as a Man and Imagined Lives - and programmes on music and musicians.

NTS said in a statement: “Janice has sadly had to withdraw from public life in recent years due to illness, but her family are thrilled that this 2027 National Theatre of Scotland production will both celebrate Janice’s living legacy and honour Michael Boyd.”

NTS artistic director Jackie Wyllie said Ms Galloway’s novel had “transformed my way of seeing the world as a young Scottish woman”.

She said: “Janice Galloway and Michael Boyd are two artistic legends who have changed the dramatic and literary landscapes of Scotland. We, at National Theatre of Scotland celebrate our responsibility to canonise, both Janice’s book and Michael’s production, as a testament to their extraordinary creativity and to honour the major contributions they have both made to Scottish cultural life.”