Janice Galloway Withdraws From Public Life After Dementia Diagnosis

Janice Galloway, the Scottish author, has withdrawn from public life after a diagnosis of early-onset Alzheimer's dementia. Her agent, Juliet Pickering, gave the news to The Scotsman on 12 November 2026. Galloway is 70, The Scotsman said. The announcement came as the National Theatre of Scotland set out a 2027 staging of her debut novel, The Trick is to Keep Breathing.

What her agent, and her family, said

"Janice Galloway first noticed changes in her memory in 2018. The following year, she was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's dementia. Janice knew that her final - and very happy - public appearance would be at the Paisley Book Festival in February 2020. With great regret, she subsequently withdrew from public life," Pickering told The Scotsman.

She went on: "Since then, with the support of her family and friends, Janice has navigated the profoundly challenging journey of living with Alzheimer's. She has, through it all, retained the remarkable warmth and humour that have always been so much a part of who she is." Then, in the same report, she added: "We know that Janice would be both excited and honoured that the National Theatre of Scotland is to stage Michael Boyd's theatrical adaptation of The Trick Is to Keep Breathing. On her behalf, we wish this celebration of Janice and Michael's work every possible success."

The Herald ran the same news as a statement from her family. It ends: "We will not comment further on Janice's health, and ask that the focus now turns to Janice and Michael's enduring artistic legacy."

The book, and the 2027 production

The National Theatre of Scotland's event listing calls The Trick Is to Keep Breathing Janice Galloway's 1989 novel, and "a brave and powerful work, now widely regarded as a Scottish contemporary classic." The Herald describes it as her debut and says it won the MIND/Allen Lane Book of the Year prize. It was also shortlisted for the Whitbread First Novel and Scottish First Book awards, The Herald said.

The Herald says the central figure is Joy Stone, a drama teacher, and that the story starts after her married lover dies. On the theatre's listing she is "blindsided by the deaths of her mother and lover." That page also says "three actors will embody the role of Joy, bringing her stream of consciousness to life as she scrambles to find the point of being alive."

Michael Boyd first staged his adaptation at the Tron Theatre in Glasgow in 1995, The Herald said. He died in 2023. The 2027 production is directed by Caroline Hall, What's On Stage reported, and the National Theatre of Scotland's event page says it will "honour and re-imagine that original production."

What's On Stage said the production will play the Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh from 12 to 15 May, the Citizens Theatre, Glasgow from 19 to 29 May, and Pitlochry Festival Theatre from 2 to 5 June 2027. The company launched its 2027 programme on 12 November 2026.

In a statement given to The Scotsman, the National Theatre of Scotland said: "Janice has sadly had to withdraw from public life in recent years due to illness, but her family are thrilled that this 2027 National Theatre of Scotland production will both celebrate Janice's living legacy and honour Michael Boyd."

Jackie Wylie, the company's artistic director, told The Herald: "It is a privilege for us to bring The Trick is to Keep Breathing back to the stage in this reimagined production. I read the novel as a teenager, and it transformed my way of seeing the world as a young Scottish woman."

"Janice Galloway and Michael Boyd are two artistic legends who have changed the dramatic and literary landscapes of Scotland," she said. "At the National Theatre of Scotland, we celebrate our responsibility to canonise, both Janice's book and Michael's production, as a testament to their extraordinary creativity and to honour the major contributions they have both made to Scottish cultural life."

The work behind the production

She was born in Saltcoats, according to The Herald. After studying music and English at Glasgow University she taught in schools, then began to write.

Her 2002 novel Clara won the Saltire Society's Scottish Book of the Year award, The Herald said. The second volume of her memoirs, All Made Up, was named Scotland's Non-fiction Book of the Year in 2012.

The Scotsman lists later work including the 2019 book Jellyfish, as well as short stories, life writing, and collaborative books of short fiction and poetry with the sculptor Anne Bevan. It also records a research fellowship at the British Library, a residency at Jura Distillery, work as a writer in residence in Scottish prisons, and that she was the first fellow in residence at the University of Otago in New Zealand. Her radio work, the same report says, includes two BBC series, Life as a Man and Imagined Lives, and programmes on music and musicians.

In 2023 she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, The Scotsman said. A year later she was awarded an honorary degree by the University of Glasgow.

The Herald said she turned 70 last December. The family statement there asks that attention now turn to the work she and Boyd left behind.

Photo: Janice Galloway at the Beverley Literature Festival on 15 October 2011. Photo by summonedbyfells, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.