One of five sons of a shale miner, Alistair Findlay was born in Winchburgh, West Lothian, in 1949. A former local journalist and then editor of the West Lothian courier, he is also the author of Shale Voices, a social-cultural history of the shale oil communities of West Lothian. He has a BA (Hons) in Literature and Social History (Open University), an MA in Applied Social Studies (Bradford University), a Certificate (with distinction) in Scottish Cultural Studies (Edinburgh University), and an M Phil (with distinction) in Modern Poetry (Stirling University). Having had a diverse employment history, from clay miner to golden wonder lorry-loader, he now lives in Bathgate and works as a Senior Social Worker for West Lothian Council.