The Young Team: Granta Best of Young British Novelists 2023

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I’ve got different shelves for different things. I’ve got a nonfiction shelf, a Scottish social realism shelf and a general fiction shelf. Though obviously influenced from Welsh's Trainspotting, the novel is a literary beast standing on its own two feet. Set in the Lanarkshire housung schemes and centred around Azzy Williams, the narrator and a member of The Young Team, he draws you in and you have no way of escaping.

The Young Team by Graeme Armstrong | Goodreads

I was on my knees that night. I’d said it a million times before,” he said. “I put my mum through hell. The ones that have really left an impact on me recently: Sally Rooney, both of her books, Conversations With Friends and Normal People. It’s outside my normal sphere of reading but it’s really, really tremendous writing. Very sparse but so accomplished. Kerry Hudson’s book To ny Hogan… and her memoir Lowborn. Jenny Fagan, The Panopticon, that left a huge impression on me. I’ve not been doing as much reading as I would like, with all this work. My reading pile by my bed is turning into a Jenga tower. Azzy is as vulnerable as any young man, suffering in silence when asked to express his feelings: “A’m a young Scottish male n A’m supposed tae be hard as nails.” When he falls for the “subtle n feminine” Monica, he’s confronted by adult emotions for the first time and the insurmountable barrier of class. Meeting Monica’s university mates, he feels them judging “ma family, ma prospects, ma financial status n ma intelligence” . By the end, the non-standard English forges a dazzling poetry of its own I read a lot of Goosebumps to tell you the truth, and I’m not ashamed to admit that. They were fantastic, I loved all that stuff. Quite young – very early high school if not primary school – I was on crime fiction. Ian Rankin and all of that sort of stuff. Azzy Williams is ready. Ready to smoke, pop pills, drink wine and ready to fight. But most of all, he’s ready to do anything for his friends, his gang, his young team.He is passionate about his work with the Violence Reduction Unit and Community Justice Scotland, hosting workshops about crime and gang culture in schools and prisons. Graeme is a passionate believer in the power of literature to help reform the lives of offenders; his book is being taught at English class in Barlinnie. Ready to smoke, pop pills and drink wine, and he’s ready to fight. But most of all, he’s ready to do anything for his friends, his gang, his young team. Round here, in the schemes of the former industrial heartland of Scotland, your troops, your young team- they’re everything” The novel follows the life of Azzy Williams from 14 to 21 as he forays into the murky world of gangs, drugs and knife crime in the former industrial heartlands of North Lanarkshire – a story heavily informed by Graeme’s own experiences..

The Young Team by Graeme Armstrong review – a swaggering

Wow, what a book! It was raw, honest - I laughed and I gret. Written in Scots, I flew threw it but didn’t want it to end. I bought it after being impressed by the author at a Paisley book festival event about Scottish masculinities. One thing he said at that event which continued to strike me throughout the book is that Azzy's thoughts and feelings play out almost entirely internally. The contrast between his inner world and the dialogue is striking. It's one of the tragedies the book highlights, the extent to which generations of young Scottish men have been culturally forbidden to express themselves or emotionally connect with each other (verbally at least). Azzy Williams makes better choices. We’re with Azzy as he grows. As his mental health worsens, Azzy seeks help. He gets a pamphlet. There’s a surprise, said no one ever who’s ever tried to access support for their mental health here. Azzy tries his best. He’s an opportunist, for the good and the bad. His register changes. You talk a bit more proper, or as my cousin told me once: “ye sound lit a fanny”. It happens, the more you get away from your upbringing and the more you feel you have to prove your intelligence, prove to others you’re more than just a kid from the schemes. Azzy encounters folk like that. He knows. Yes, our main man Alan 'Azzy' Williams is in a gang but the story is more about his personal journey. His gang, The Young Team, are his brothers and he will do, and frequently does do, anything for them. These guys pull each other out of some truly awful circumstances and have a bond forged initially through drink, drugs, gangs and raves.

I told people about how my pal had murdered someone and we both ended up in Stirling: Him for a life sentence and me for graduating with honours. That could well have been me. Reading has saved my life.” One of them imitated me swaggering about in the classroom and went ‘who’s gonae give YOU a job?’ I told him, ‘I won’t need a job. I’m going to uni.’ I was determined to beat them.” You write brilliantly about drugs and violence, both of which tend to lie outside the realm of language.… A swaggering, incendiary debut . . . The non-standard English forges a dazzling poetry of its own . . . pitches Armstrong straight into the first division of Scottish writers. Ah never say never n aw that!’ A say, wae Monica catchin ma eye. She looks doon ever so slightly, n gees us this mad look.

The Young Team Novel to Be Adapted By Synchronicity Films The Young Team Novel to Be Adapted By Synchronicity Films

But are the young teams as much of a thing today? Graeme said they’ve not gone away: They just wear a different guise. This TV adaptation of Graeme Armstrong’s novel will follow Azzy during three crucial years of his life. It will view the world through his eyes as he navigates Scottish masculinity, gang violence, substance abuse, mental health, male suicide and murder. Transitioning from adolescence into manhood, Azzy faces the biggest battle of all – the fight for a different future. Graeme joined the “hated but rated” local gang Lang El Toi and rose through the ranks, continuing down the same troubled path that led to his expulsion from his previous school. His book received 300 rejections over five years. Graeme was told it wouldn’t work “because of its dialect.” But he persevered – it was “The Young Team or bust. No Plan B.” It was finally signed by Picador in 2019. Azzy Williams joins the Young Team [YTP]. A brutal gang conflict with their deadly rivals, the Young Toi [YTB] begins.

By Graeme Armstrong

Graeme experienced many brushes with tragedy as a teenager: Three of his friends suffered heroin overdoses, one of which he had witnessed at a party aged 16. One later died. Though he was very “anti-heroin,” he began to realise it was all around him, shrouded in secrecy and shame. Graeme, now 29, recalls being asked if he wanted to join the local young team when he was around 12: “I thought he meant for football training. He laughed and went “it’s not a football team ya d***, it’s a gang.” He continued: “I went from three drafts of 235,000 words to one book with 110,000. There are still bits I would change to this day, like any artist. But you need to learn to let that go to grow.” I was engrossed from start to finish. Graeme Armstrong is a major new talent and I cannot wait to discover what he does next. After a long hiatus - mainly due to work commitments - I have finally finished this Graeme Armstrong impressive debut. Not because it was no good. It is brilliant raw stuff, clearly drawn from his own teenage experiences as Armstrong used to form part of one of Glasgow's terrible gangs and drink and drugs and violence were his life ingredients.