Allen Wright (journalist)

In 1993, he was incapacitated by a stroke, shortly after returning from a holiday in France after that year's Fringe. This left him in a wheelchair and unable to converse. He died on 16 November 1997, survived by his wife Eleanor and three grandchildren.

Wright worked his entire life at The Scotsman. He joined the paper straight from school as a 'tube boy', a messenger who delivered editorial copy via a vacuum tube system. He graduated to reporting, with film reviewing as a sideline, then became drama critic in succession to Ronald Mavor and deputy news editor. In 1964, the paper's editor Alastair Dunnet made him the Scotsman's first arts editor. He continued in much the same way under Dunnett's successor, Eric Mackay, but he found some of the demands of later editors harder to comply with. Nevertheless, he remained in the role until suffering a stroke in 1993.

Allen Wright (22 February 1932 - 16 November 1997) was a Scottish arts critic and journalist. He was, for nearly 30 years, arts editor of The Scotsman newspaper, and was regarded as a champion of young critics. Wright first began to review at the annual Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 1957 and today, the young writers' award at the Fringe is named the Allen Wright Award in his honour, having been established in 1998. He was 'arguably Scotland's most respected arts journalist' of the era and a 'major figure in the Scottish cultural scene'.