Stuart and Robertson among shortlistees for Scotland’s National Book Awards

Douglas Stuart and James Robertson are among the authors shortlisted for Scotland’s National Book Awards.

This year the shortlists include books in Gaelic and Scots vernacular, on embroidery, obsessive compulsive disorder and stories set in Scotland, Tahiti, the Caribbean and 1930s Berlin.

Scotland’s National Book Awards, co-ordinated by the Saltire Society, recognise work across six literary categories, including Fiction, Non-Fiction, Research, History, Poetry and First Book. Winners receive a cash prize of £2,000 each, and go on to be considered for the top prize of Saltire Scottish Book of the Year, receiving a further £4,000.

Authors Alice Albinia, Mara Menzies, Rachelle Atalla and debut novelist Emme Grae are joined on the Fiction Shortlist by Booker Prize-winner Stuart and a previous winner of Saltire Book of the Year, Robertson. Poetry books nominated this year include collections from Hannah Lavery, Claire Askew, Andrés N Ordorica, Maria Sledmere and Gaelic writer Marcas Mac an Tuairneir.

Sarah Mason, director of the Saltire Society, said: “Scotland’s National Book Awards celebrate the extraordinary richness in the work of our authors, publishers and designers. The awards reflect the strength of the literary scene in Scotland today and the 2022 shortlists showcase a wonderful variety and depth of storytelling. Congratulations to all our shortlisted authors.”

In addition to the National Book Awards, the Saltire Society presents three industry awards: Publisher of the Year and Emerging Publisher of the Year, which are presented in partnership with Publishing Scotland; and Book Cover of the Year, which "celebrates the enormous talent in Scottish design and the importance of the relationship between the designer, publisher and author". Shortlists for these awards will be announced on 1st December.

The Ross Roy Medal, commemorating the outstanding contribution to Scottish literature made by Professor G Ross Roy of South Carolina University, is awarded annually to the best PhD thesis submitted on a subject relating to Scottish literature and judged by the University Committee for Scottish Literature.

The Lifetime Achievement Award is for individuals who have made and are making a lasting impact and are embedded in the literary culture of Scotland. 

The Scottish National Book Awards have been awarded by the Saltire Society since 1937 and in 2022 are supported by The National Library of Scotland and the Scottish Historical Review Trust. All entrants must be born in Scotland, live in Scotland or their books must be about Scotland.

The winners of each category will receive a bespoke award created by Inverness-based artist Simon Baker of Evergreen Studios. Winners of all the awards will be announced at the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh on the evening of 8th December attended by the judges, shortlisted authors and publishers. The ceremony will be streamed live and tickets to watch online are available from 15th November.

Alison Stevenson from the National Library of Scotland said: “The National Library is pleased to support Scotland’s National Book Awards. Because of libraries, books are a free way for people to engage with Scotland’s rich cultural heritage, and are no doubt providing great solace and entertainment to people right now. These awards are an important way to celebrate and connect those who write books with those who enjoy them.”

Fiction Award 

Be Guid Tae Yer Mammy by Emma Grae (Unbound)
Blood and Gold by Mara Menzies (Birlinn)
Cwen by Alice Albinia (Serpents Tail)
News of the Dead by James Robertson (Hamish Hamilton, Penguin Randomhouse)
The Pharmacist by Rachelle Atalia (Hodder & Stoughton)
Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart (Pan MacMillan/Picador)

Non Fiction Award

Alison Watt: A Portrait without Likeness by Alison Watt (National Galleries of Scotland)
Alternatives to Valium by Alastair McKay (Birlinn)
Homelands by Chitra Ramaswamy (Canongate Books)
One Body by Catherine Simpson (Saraband)
The Eternal Season: A Journey Through Our Changing British Summer by Stephen Rutt (Elliott & Thompson)
Seven Ways to Change the World by Gordon Brown (Simon & Schuster UK)

History Award 

Blood Legacy by Alex Renton (Canongate Books)
Mael Coluim III, Canmore by Neil McGuigan (Birlinn)
R B Cunninghame Graham and Scotland: Party, Prose, and Political Aesthetic by Lachlan Gow Munro (Edinburgh University Press)
Slaves and Highlanders: Silenced Histories of Scotland and the Caribbean by David Alston (Edinburgh University Press)
Embroidering Her Truth by Clare Hunter (Hodder & Stoughton – Sceptre)
Putting the Tea in Britain by Les Wilson (Birlinn Ltd)

Research Award 

A Long and Tangled Saga by Bob Chambers (Acair Books)
Ainmean Tuineachaidh Leòdhais /The Settlement Names of Lewis by Richard A V Cox (Clann Tuirc)
Craftworkers in Nineteenth Century Scotland: Making and Adapting in an Industrial Age by Stana Nenadic (Edinburgh University Press)
Recovering Scottish History: John Hill Burton and Scottish National Identity in the Nineteenth Century by Craig Beveridge (Edinburgh University Press)
Surveying the Anthropocene: Environment and Photography Now edited by Patrician Macdonald (Studies in Photography)
Scripting the Nation: Court Poetry and the Authority of History in Late Medieval Scotland by Katherine H Terrell (The Ohio State University Press)

Poetry Award 

At Least This I Know by Andrés N Ordorica (404 Ink)
Blood Salt Spring by Hannah Lavery (Birlinn)
How to Burn a Woman by Claire Askew (Bloodaxe Books)
Polaris by Marcas Mac an Tuairneir (Leamington Books)
The Luna Erratum by Maria Sledmere (Dostoyevsky Wannabe)

First Book Award 

A Sky Full of Kites by Tom Bowser (Birlinn Ltd)
I Am Not Your Eve by Devika Ponnambalam (Bluemoose Books)
In: The Graphic Novel by Will McPhail (Hodder & Stoughton—Sceptre)
Limbo by Georgi Gill (Blue Diode Press)
The Second Sight of Zachary Cloudesley by Sean Lusk (Doubleday/Transworld)
The Voids by Ryan O’Connor (Scribe Publications)