Saltire Society Literary Awards 2019 shortlists
25 October 2019
The Saltire Society announced the shortlists for
the 2019 Saltire Literary Awards, as well as two brand new prizes,
at Waterstones West End in Edinburgh on 25 October 2019.
Congratulations to everyone with titles on the lists including
our members: Acair (2), Saraband
(2), Edinburgh University Press,
Tapsalteerie and Vagabond Voices.
Edinburgh-based Birlinn also have 3 books on the shortlists. The
winners will be announced at a ceremony in Edinburgh on 30 November
2019.
The shortlists in full are:
The Saltire Society Scottish Poetry Book of the
Year 2019
- Ceum air Cheum by Christopher Whyte (Acair)
- Hand Over Mouth Music by Janette Ayachi (Pavilion
Poetry)
- I'm a Pretty Circler by Iain Morrison (Vagabond
Voices)
- Line Drawings by Ross Wilson (Smokestack Books)
- Moder Dy by Roseanne Watt (Polygon)
- The Games by Harry Josephine Giles (Out-Spoken
Press)
The Saltire Society Scottish First Book of the
Year 2019
- A Superior Spectre by Angela Meyer (Saraband)
- Escape from Earth: A Secret History of the Space
Rocket by Fraser MacDonald (Profile Books)
- Overlander by Alan Brown (Saraband)
- The Seafarers: A Journey Among Birds by Stephen Rutt
(Elliott & Thompson)
- Threads of Life by Clare Hunter (Sceptre (Hodder &
Stoughton)
Special Commendation: Blushing is for
Sinners by Tracy Patrick (Clochoderick Press)
The Saltire Society Scottish Fiction Book of
the Year 2019
- Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann (Galley Beggar
Press)
- Còig Duilleagan na Seamraig (Five Leaves of the
Shamrock) by Ruairidh MacIlleathain (Roddy MacLean)
(CLÀR)
- Bird Summons by Leila Aboulela (Weidenfeld &
Nicolson)
- Nina X by Ewan Morrison (Little, Brown Book
Group/Fleet imprint)
- Tiger by Polly Clark (Riverrun Books)
- You Will Be Safe Here by Damian Barr (Bloomsbury
Publishing)
The Saltire Society Scottish Non-Fiction Book
of the Year 2019
- Seòl Mo Bheatha (My Life Journey) by Dòmhnall
Eachann Meek (Donald E. Meek) (CLÀR)
- Jane Haining: A Life of Love and Courage by Mary
Miller (Birlinn Ltd)
- My Life with Murderers by Dr David Wilson
(Sphere)
- Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me by Kate
Clanchy (Picador)
- The World I Fell Out Of by Melanie Reid (4th
Estate)
- Lowborn: Growing up, getting away and returning to
Britain's poorest towns by Kerry Hudson (Chatto &
Windus)
The Saltire Scottish Research Book of the Year
2019 - supported by the National Library of Scotland
- Working Verse in Victorian Scotland: Poetry, Press,
Community by Kirstie Blair (Oxford University Press)
- The Scottish Clearances: A History of the Dispossessed,
1600-1900 by Thomas Devine (Penguin Random House)
- Energy at the End of the World: An Orkney Islands Saga
by Laura Watts (The MIT Press)
The Saltire Scottish History Book of the Year
2019 - supported by the Scottish Historical Review Trust
- Alexander III: 1249-1286, First Among Equals by Norman
H Reid (Birlinn Ltd)
- Frederick Douglass and Scotland, 1846: Living an
Antislavery Life by Alasdair Pettinger (Edinburgh University
Press)
- John Law - A Scottish Adventurer of the eighteenth
Century by James Buchan (MacLehose Press)
- The Darkest Dawn by Malcolm Macdonald and Donald John
MacLeod (Acair)
- The Sea Kings: The Late Norse Kingdoms of Man and the Isles
c.1066-1275 by R A McDonald (John Campbell)
Special Mention: The Armorial of Sir David
Lyndsay of the Mount by Alex Maxwell Findlater (Heraldry
Society of Scotland)
Calum Macdonald Memorial Award 2019
shortlist
- Red Squirrel for Juke Box Jeopardy (Brian
Johnstone)
- Tapsalteerie for Glisk (Sarah Stewart) and An Offering
(Stewart Sanderson)
- Essence Press for zenscotlit (Alan Spence)
- Bitter Melon Press for Wedding Beasts (Jay G
Ying)
- Polygon for Polygon New Poets: Iona Lee (Iona
Lee)
About the 2019 Awards
This year, for the first time, the Saltire
Society will be awarding a prize for Scottish Book
Cover and a special Award for Lifetime
Achievement. The winners of all eleven prizes, and the
Saltire Book of the Year, will be announced at a ceremony in
Edinburgh on Saturday 30 November.
Widely regarded as Scotland's national book
awards, The Saltire Literary Awards recognise work across six
literary categories (Fiction, Non-Fiction, Research, History,
Poetry and First Book) and two publishing categories (Publisher
and Emerging Publisher). An additional award, The Calum
MacDonald Memorial Award for the publisher of an outstanding
example of pamphlet poetry published during the previous year, is
presented in partnership with the Scottish Poetry Library. The
Literary Awards see the winner of each book Award receive a cash
prize of £2,000 and go on to be considered for the top prize of
Saltire Scottish Book of the Year, receiving a further £5,000.
The new Lifetime Achievement Award will be given
to an individual who has made a meaningful creative contribution to
the world of literature. With the very first Saltire Literary
Awards taking place in 1937, the Society decided it was an
appropriate time to recognise a body of work rather than one book,
something that is not currently part of the publishing timeline.
The Lifetime Achievement Award celebrates a writers' work in its
entirety and comes with a cash prize of £2,000.
The Scottish Book Cover Award celebrates the
enormous talent Scotland has in book production and design. This
Award and its recipient will exemplify creativity and the
relationship between the designer, the publisher and author. The
shortlist for this Award will be announced in early November.
For more on the Literary Awards, see the Saltire Society website.