Isla Dewar

Dewar became an established Scottish novelist and writer. In 2004 a collection of short stories, Scottish Girls About Town: And Sixteen Other Scottish Women Authors was published. Dewar, Jenny Colgan and Muriel Gray feature on the cover and Dewar's "In the Garden of Mr Pink" was the first story. At the height of her career, Dewar published a book a year, and her work was translated into 17 languages. Her books are known for their humour. To quote from Women Talking Dirty: "You must master the vices. You know that if a thing is worth doing it's worth doing well. If, however, a thing is not worth doing then it's worth doing fabulously, amazingly, with grace, style and panache."

Dewar's first book, Keeping Up with Magda, was published in 1995. Her second book, Women Talking Dirty, published a year later, attracted the interest of Elton John and David Furnish, who purchased the rights for Rocket Pictures. Furnish became the producer and Dewar was engaged to write the screenplay. She moved to John and Furnish's mansion in Windsor where she worked on the screenplay. She used a book by Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid's screenwriter William Goldman, Adventures in the Screen Trade, to explain the details of scriptwriting. Dewar assisted the stars of the film with honing their Scottish accents. The film, starring Helena Bonham Carter, James Nesbitt and Gina McKee, was screened at the 1999 Toronto Film Festival. The story concerned the friendship and betrayals of two women living in 1970s Edinburgh.

Isla Dewar was born in Edinburgh to Ian White, a tax inspector, and Marjory (née Roberts). She attended Leith Academy and then worked in the lab of an Edinburgh yogurt factory, rather than attending university. She started her writing career working for teenage magazines including Jackie and Romeo. She married cartoonist Bob Dewar in 1966, and had two sons. She died, aged 74, of a heart attack at her home in Fife.

Isla Dewar (29 June 1946 – 20 June 2021) was a Scottish novelist and screenwriter, known for her novel Women Talking Dirty, turned into a film starring Helena Bonham Carter and Gina McKee. She wrote seventeen novels.