Living by the Authors

Allan pointed toward a distinctive Scottish baronial–style building and said, “This is where Sir Arthur Conan Doyle found his inspiration for Sherlock Holmes.”

“But what was he doing here in a hospital? He was an author, right?” I asked, oblivious.

“Not all authors begin their careers as writers. Conan Doyle was originally a physician,” Allan laughed. A local author himself, he was my literary tour guide that afternoon.

Goosebumps prickled my skin as I stared at the old surgical hospital on Drummond Street, Edinburgh. But this was only the beginning of my surprises. The world’s first UNESCO City of Literature—home to real-life locations linked to countless literary legends—held many such secrets for the bibliophile in me.

In the nineteenth century, Conan Doyle worked under Joseph Bell, the renowned Scottish surgeon who frequently assisted in police investigations. Doyle keenly observed Bell’s extraordinary ability to deduce a person’s background and character simply by studying their demeanour. Deeply impressed, he began weaving stories around this talent, eventually creating one of the most enigmatic fictional characters of all time: Detective Sherlock Holmes.

In the same building—formerly the Royal High School—Sir Walter Scott, the pioneer of the historical novel, received his education. Though trained as a lawyer, Scott began his literary career by translating German works. He later turned to poetry, which was warmly received at a time when prose was considered aesthetically inferior. Consequently, he published his first novel, Waverley, anonymously. The novel’s immense popularity led to a series so influential that Edinburgh’s principal railway station was named Waverley.

Scott’s presence permeates the city: the magnificent Waverley Bridge, the Gothic Scott Monument sculpted from white Carrara marble, and even a pub bearing his name at Wetherspoon. In recognition of his 1826 Malachi Malagrowther campaign—fought to preserve Scottish banks’ right to issue their own currency—his portrait still adorns Bank of Scotland notes.

Deacon Brodie, a former pupil of the same school, later inspired Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Ranked among the world’s most translated authors, Stevenson was a sickly child but an indefatigable writer. To learn more about him, I made my way to the Writers’ Museum at Lady Stair’s House.

The winding, narrow staircase of the three-storey stone house ushered me into a literary world where Burns, Scott, and Stevenson once thrived. Gazing at pages from Stevenson’s original journal—written during his 1869 journey through Orkney and Shetland—I felt momentarily transported to his time. His sketches and doodles bore witness to his remarkable versatility. Later, my footsteps led me to 8 Howard Place, where an off-white door with a square brass handle marked Stevenson’s birthplace. Encircled by Highland landscapes, the setting seemed perfectly conducive to creative thought.

As I passed Robert Burns’s writing desk, I wondered what inspired him to compose romantic verses like “A Red, Red Rose.” One of his muses was Highland Mary, whose statue stands in the museum. The section devoted to Sir Walter Scott displayed his walking sticks, bonnet, wallet, chess set, and even his dining table. It is intriguing to note that Scott, at just fifteen, was deeply influenced by the works of Robert Burns.

Stacked with rare books, portraits, and personal belongings of literary greats, the Writers’ Museum feels as steeped in stories as the city itself. Yet to truly know these writers, one must wander the narrow alleys and winding streets of the higgledy-piggledy Old Town and the broad avenues of the Georgian New Town. And so, once again, I stepped onto the cobbled roads.

By an interesting coincidence, I had packed The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie among my travel reads. It was a delight to discover that its author, Muriel Spark, was also born in Edinburgh. She attended James Gillespie’s High School for Girls, where one of her teachers, Christina Kay, inspired the novel. Spark lived in Bruntsfield, walking daily to school through the same paths. As I strolled across Bruntsfield Links, I almost imagined six school girls walking alongside a short-haired blonde teacher, listening to her with rapt attention.

But Scotland’s capital is not only defined by its nineteenth- and twentieth-century literary giants. In recent decades, it has produced compelling contemporary voices such as Ian Rankin, J. K. Rowling, and Irvine Welsh.

Irvine Welsh once remarked:“I’m formed by Edinburgh, specifically its northern housing schemes—a geographically short but culturally long distance from the historic city centre experienced by tourists and visitors.”

Much of his work is characterised by raw Scots dialect and stark portrayals of Edinburgh life, most famously in Trainspotting. Welsh’s Edinburgh—particularly Leith—owes much to his imaginative extrapolation. Locations such as the Calton Archway or Pennywell Shopping Centre evoke scenes from his novels. It was in a top-floor flat at 2 Wellington Place, Leith, that Welsh wrote his debut novel.

A graduate of the University of Edinburgh, Ian Rankin set most of his Inspector Rebus novels in this literary city. Places like the Oxford Bar, Greyfriars Kirkyard, and Fleshmarket Close appear frequently in his work.

For Harry Potter enthusiasts, a walk down Victoria Street is essential—it inspired Diagon Alley. George Heriot’s School and Fettes College unmistakably echo Hogwarts. On Nicholson Street stands the Spoon Café, where J. K. Rowling spent hours writing the first Harry Potter book while her baby slept beside her. The Elephant House is another of her writing haunts—and the rest, as they say, is history.