John Burnside and Carl MacDougall tipped posthumously for Scotland’s National Book Awards 2024

Scotland’s female authors dominated the Scotland’s National Book Awards shortlists with the likes of Jackie Kay, Laura Cumming and Kirsty Logan featured, while the late John Burnside and Carl MacDougall received posthumous nominations.

The awards are run by The Saltire Society across fiction, non-fiction, first book, poetry and research. The shortlists were revealed at a livestreamed event from The Saltire Society’s headquarters in Edinburgh’s Old Town on Wednesday evening (30th October). Burnside, who died in May was nominated as was MacDougall, who died in April 2023. Other nominations included John Niven, Nicholas Shakespeare and Sarah Bernstein. 

On introducing the 2024 shortlists, Mairi Kidd, director of The Saltire Society, said “This year’s shortlists showcase the dazzling variety of work coming out of Scotland today. There is an obvious poignancy in the presence of the last works of two—very different—writers who are no longer with us, but we are glad to pay tribute to them alongside so many other established and emergent voices. 

"We very much hope that readers in Scotland and further afield will enjoy exploring the shortlists and will join us via livestream in November as we announce the winners, plus Scotland’s overall Book of the Year.”

The winners in each category will be announced on 28th November along with the overall Book of the Year and Lifetime Achievement Award.

Modern Scottish literature will also be discussed at the inaugural St Andrew’s Book Festival, held in London on 26th November, with Allan Radcliffe, Nuala Watt and Elle Machray on stage with former literary editor of The Scotsman David Robinson to discuss their work and to celebrate their homeland and everything its contemporary literary scene has to offer. 

Fiction book of the year shortlist

Study for Obedience by Sarah Bernstein (Granta)
What Doesn’t Kill Us by Ajay Close (Saraband)
Clear by Carys Davies (Granta)
Lost People by Margaret Elphinstone (Wild Goose)
Hazardous Spirits by Anbara Salam (Baskerville, an imprint of John Murray)

First book of the year shortlist

Fragile Animals by Genevieve Jagger (404 Ink) (fiction) 
Remember, Remember by Elle Machray (HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd, HarperNorth) (fiction)
The Old Haunts by Allan Radcliffe (Fairlight Books) (fiction) 
Night Train to Odesa by Jen Stout (Birlinn Ltd) (non-fiction) 
The Department of Work and Pensions Assesses a Jade Fish by Nuala Watt (Blue Diode Press) (poetry)

Non-fiction book shortlist

Thunderclap by Laura Cumming (Chatto and Windus, Vintage, Penguin Random House) 
The Unfamiliar: A Queer Motherhood Memoir by Kirsty Logan (Virago) 
Already, Too Late by Carl MacDougall (Luath Press) 
O Brother by John Niven (Canongate Books) 
Ian Fleming: The Complete Man by Nicholas Shakespeare (Harvill Secker, Vintage, Penguin Random House)

Poetry book shortlist

QuickFire, Slow Burning by Janette Ayachi (Pavilion Poetry, Liverpool University Press) 
Ruin, Blossom by John Burnside (Jonathan Cape, Vintage, PRH) 
May Day by Jackie Kay (Pan Macmillan) 
The Wrong Person to Ask by Marjorie Lotfi (Bloodaxe Books) 
Three Births by K Patrick (Granta) 
The Cat Prince: & Other Poems, Michael Pedersen (Corsair, Little, Brown Book Group)