David Greig and Alan Warner make Highland Book Prize shortlist

Titles by David Greig, Alan Warner, Kapka Kassabova, Sally Huband and James Macdonald Lockhart have been shortlisted for the 2023 Highland Book Prize.

The shortlisted titles are: Columba’s Bones by David Greig; (Fiction, Birlinn); Elixir: In the Valley at the End of Time by Kapka Kassabova (Non-Fiction, Jonathan Cape); Nothing Left to Fear from Hell by Alan Warner (Fiction, Birlinn); Sea Bean by Sally Huband (Non-Fiction, Penguin) and Wild Air: In Search of Birdsong by James Macdonald Lockhart (Non-Fiction, Fourth Estate).

Presented by the Highland Society of London, and facilitated by Moniack Mhor, Scotland’s Creative Writing Centre, the annual award celebrates the finest published work that is created in, or about, the Highlands and Islands of Scotland.

It aims to recognise the literary talent of the region and celebrate work inspired by its culture, heritage and landscape. The shortlisted writers will be invited to take part in community workshops over the summer, and the winner will be announced at an award ceremony on 3rd September 2024, held in partnership with Nairn Book & Arts Festival. The award event will also be available as a live stream.

The shortlist was selected from a longlist of 12 by this year’s judging panel, comprising poet and essayist Jen Hadfield; novelist and screenwriter Cynan Jones; and poet, lecturer and broadcaster Peter Mackay. The selection process was chaired by Alex Ogilvie, a trustee for the Highland Society of London.

Judge Peter Mackay said: “This was an extremely strong longlist, with an excellent range of fiction, non-fiction and poetry [...] All the books show that writing in, about and from the Highlands is in rude health, and it was a pleasure to read from them, and a real challenge to choose between them. In the end the shortlisted books were those that surprised me most, or made me travel furthest from where we thought we had landed.”

Cynan Jones also said of the judging process: “One of the most demanding things about judging the Highland Book Prize was to stand books from across forms, genres and languages alongside one another. I think that brings something very special to the process. No one should be in any doubt about the level of respect in the room when we were discussing the titles – among the judging team, and for the books themselves.”