the famous comedian mentioned was Billy Connolly. In 1985, Owens contributed eight stories to a collection together with Kelman and Gray, Lean Tales. Her writing career was then interrupted following the death of her son. In 1994 however she published A Working Mother about marriage to an alcoholic, and followed this up in 1998 with For the Love of Willie. Alasdair Gray described Owens as "the most unfairly neglected of all living Scottish authors". Novellas Gentlemen of the West, 1984 Like Birds in the Wilderness, 1987 A Working Mother, 1994 For the Love of Willie, 1998 (shortlisted for the 1998 Stakis Prize) Bad Attitudes/Jen’s Party, 2004 The Complete Novellas, 2009 [contains all the above] Short stories Gentlemen of the West, 1984 [first published as a novel, written as short stories] Lean Tales, 1985 (With James Kelman & Alasdair Gray) Paisley Yarns, 1991 People Like That, 1996 The Complete Short Stories, 2008 [contains all of Gentlemen, Owens contributions to Lean Tales, People Like That, and new material] References 1926 births 2014 deaths Scottish women novelists Scottish short story writers People from Milngavie 20th-century Scottish novelists 20th-century Scottish women writers 21st-century Scottish writers 21st-century Scottish women writers British women short story writers 20th-century British short story writers 21st-century British short story writers 21st-century Scottish novelists