Scotland's YA talent revealed in prize shortlist

Books published by Usborne, Kelpies and Chicken House are in the running for the 2019 Scottish Teenage Book Prize, which celebrates teen titles written by Scottish authors.

The books in the running for next year’s prize are The Extinction Trials by S M Wilson (Usborne), Farewell Tour of a Terminal Optimist by John Young (Kelpies), and The Rise of Wolves by Kerr Thomson (Chicken House).

The prize is run by Scottish Book Trust, in association with Creative Scotland, and all the shortlisted authors will receive a cash prize - £3,000 for the winner and £500 for both of the remaining shortlistees.

Teenagers in Scotland are now being invited to vote for their favourite title as part of their class or book group by 7th February ahead of the winner announcement on 27th February.

Marc Lambert, c.e.o. of Scottish Book Trust, said: “We are thrilled to be running the Scottish Teenage Book Prize for a third year. The shortlisted titles are an example of Scotland’s exciting talent in the teenage fiction genre.”

Alan Bett, literature officer at Creative Scotland added: “We are delighted to support this Scottish Book Trust initiative that, while rewarding deserving writers, also encourages teenage readers to engage with these works and have their say. Reading can be a transformative experience, no matter what our age, but we hope that raising awareness of high quality literature for teenagers is one significant step towards a lifetime’s love of books.”