''Lean Tales'' is an anthology of short stories, first published in 1985, written by Scottish authors

Alasdair Gray Alasdair James Gray (28 December 1934 – 29 December 2019) was a Scottish writer and artist. His first novel, ''Lanark'' (1981), is seen as a landmark of Scottish fiction. He published novels, short stories, plays, poetry and translations, and ...

Agnes Owens Agnes Owens (24 May 1926 – 13 October 2014) was a Scottish author. Life Owens was born in Milngavie in 1926 and spent most of her life on the west coast of Scotland Her father worked in a paper mill, and had lost a leg in the First World War. ...

and

James Kelman James Kelman (born 9 June 1946) is a Scottish novelist, short story writer, playwright and essayist. His novel '' A Disaffection'' was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction in 1989. Kelman won ...

,Dorothy McMillan. Owens, Agnes, n. McLearie, m1 Crosbie, m2 Owens. ''The New Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Women'' (2nd edition) (Elizabeth Ewan, Rose Pipes, eds) (Cambridge University Press; 2019) with author illustrations by Alasdair Gray. Contractually obligated to

Jonathan Cape Jonathan Cape is a London publishing firm founded in 1921 by Herbert Jonathan Cape, who was head of the firm until his death in 1960. Cape and his business partner Wren Howard set up the publishing house in 1921. They established a reputation ...

to provide a new book, Gray claimed to find himself without new material or ideas, and so approached Kelman and Owens to bulk out a collection of stories with some of their own. As is often the case with Gray's later stories, some of his own contributions are recycled from his previous writing, including '' The Story of a Recluse'' (based on his television play) and ''A Report to the Trustees of the Bellahouston Travelling Scholarship'' (based on report written after Gray received a grant to travel abroad as an art student). ''Lean Tales'' was first published by Jonathan Cape Ltd., London, 1985.

References

1985 anthologies British anthologies Jonathan Cape books {{anthology-book-stub