Saltire Society Literary Awards
Scotland's National Book Awards, formerly known as the Saltire Society Literary Awards, are made annually by the Saltire Society. First awarded in 1937, they are awarded for books by Scottish authors or about Scotland, and are awarded in several categories.
History
The first Saltire Society Book Award was given in 1937, the year after the Saltire Society was established. No awards were given after 1939 due to the Second World War, and the next award was made 1956. The History Book of the Year award was inaugurated in 1965. In 1982 sponsorship was obtained and since then the awards have been made annually. First books have been recognised since 1988, and in 1998 the award for Scottish Research Book of the Year was established.
Until around 2021, the awards were known as the Saltire Society Literary Awards, subtitled Scotland's National Book Awards, but then took on the subtitle as the name covering all of the literary awards that the society awards: Scotland's National Book Awards, and are known by this name as of May 2023.
Description
The awards seek to recognise books which are either by "living authors of Scottish descent or residing in Scotland," or which deal with "the work or life of a Scot or with a Scottish question, event or situation".
As of 2022, the winner in each category receives an award created by artist Simon Baker of Evergreen Studios, based in Inverness; the winners of each literary award receive a cash prize of £2,000, while the winner of the Saltire Society Book of the Year is given a further £4,000.
Categories
A one-off Homecoming Book of the Year award was made in 2009 to celebrate the "Year of homecoming": the award was presented to American professor Donald Worster for his biography of John Muir, A Passion for Nature.
In 2014, the Scottish Literary Book of the Year was awarded, but did not return in subsequent years.
As of 2022, the Saltire Society presents awards in the seven following categories:
- Saltire Society Scottish Book of the Year Award (formerly "Scottish Book of the Year")
- Saltire Society First Book of the Year
- Saltire Society History Book of the Year
- Saltire Society Research Book of the Year
- Saltire Society Poetry Book of the Year (introduced in 2014)
- Saltire Society Fiction Book of the Year (introduced in 2015)
- Saltire Society Non-Fiction Book of the Year (introduced in 2015)
- Saltire Society Book Cover Design of the Year
- Saltire Society Publisher of the Year
- Saltire Society Emerging Publisher of the Year (awarded in partnership with Publishing Scotland)
In 2019, a Lifetime Achievement Award was introduced, the inaugural prize going to Alasdair Gray. In 2022, Alexander McCall Smith won the prize.
In addition, an annual student travel bursary is awarded to a creative writing graduate, and the Ross Roy Medal is awarded for the best PhD thesis on a subject related to Scottish literature.
Past winners
Scottish Book of the Year
The Scottish Book of the Year award was established in 1937, and has been given annually since 1982. The award is open to novels, poetry and plays as well as non-fiction works on Scottish subjects.
| Year | Work | Author | Ref(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1937 | Highland River | Neil Gunn | |
| The Lord Bothwell | Robert Gore-Browne | ||
| 1939 | Three Plays | Robert McLellan | |
| 1956 | One Foot in Eden | Edwin Muir | |
| 1958 | Scotland Before History | Stuart Piggott | |
| 1982 | Lanark: A Life in Four Books | Alasdair Gray | |
| 1983 | Collected Poems | Derick Thomson | |
| Poems of Thirty Years | Edwin Morgan | ||
| 1984 | God and the Poets: The Gifford Lectures | David Daiches | |
| Intimate Voices: Selected Works | Tom Leonard | ||
| 1985 | Collected Poems | Norman MacCaig | |
| 1986 | A Storm From Paradise | Stuart Hood | |
| 1987 | The Stories of Muriel Spark | Muriel Spark | |
| 1988 | Games with Shadows | Neal Ascherson | |
| The Enchanted Glass: Britain and its Monarchy | Tom Nairn | ||
| 1989 | A Question of Loyalties | Allan Massie | |
| 1990 | O Choille gu Bearradh / From Wood to Ridge | Sorley MacLean | |
| 1991 | Scottish Art 1460–1990 | Duncan Macmillan | |
| 1992 | Collected Poems | Iain Crichton Smith | |
| 1993 | Robert Burns – A Biography | James A. Mackay | |
| 1994 | Beside the Ocean of Time | George Mackay Brown | |
| 1995 | Black Sea | Neal Ascherson | |
| 1996 | The Kiln | William McIlvanney | |
| 1997 | Grace Notes | Bernard MacLaverty | |
| 1998 | The Sopranos | Alan Warner | |
| 1999 | Pursuits | George Bruce | |
| 2000 | The Lantern Bearers | Ronald Frame | |
| 2001 | Medea | Liz Lochhead | |
| 2002 | Clara | Janice Galloway | |
| 2003 | Joseph Knight | James Robertson | |
| 2004 | In Another Light | Andrew Greig | |
| 2005 | Case Histories | Kate Atkinson | |
| 2006 | A Lie About My Father | John Burnside | |
| 2007 | Day | A. L. Kennedy | |
| 2008 | Kieron Smith, boy | James Kelman | |
| 2009 | The Bard: Robert Burns, a Biography | Robert Crawford | |
| 2010 | And the Land Lay Still | James Robertson | |
| 2011 | A Life in Pictures | Alasdair Gray | |
| 2012 | Mo Said She Was Quirky | James Kelman | |
| 2013 | Something Like Happy | John Burnside | |
| 2014 | The Scottish Town in the Age of Enlightenment 1740-1820 | Bob Harris and Charles McKean | |
| 2015 | The Book of Strange New Things | Michel Faber | |
| 2016 | The Bonniest Companie | Kathleen Jamie | |
| 2017 | Border: A Journey to the Edge of Europe | Kapka Kassabova | |
| 2018 | |||
| 2019 | |||
| 2020 | |||
| 2021 | Duck Feet | Ely Percy | |
| 2022 | Slaves and Highlanders: Silenced Histories of Scotland and the Caribbean | David Alston |
Scottish Fiction of the Year
The fiction book of the year award was inaugurated in 2015.
| Year | Work | Author | Ref(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | The Book of Strange New Things | Michel Faber | |
| 2016 | His Bloody Project | Graeme Macrae Burnet | |
| 2017 | Memory and Straw | Angus Peter Campbell | |
| 2018 | Elsewhere, Home | Leila Aboulela | |
| 2019 | Nina X | Ewan Morrison | |
| 2020 | |||
| 2021 | Duck Feet | Ely Percy | |
| 2022 | Blood & Gold: A Journey of Shadows | Mara Menzies |
Scottish First Book of the Year
The first book of the year award was inaugurated in 1988 and recognises an author who has not previously published a book. As with the book of the year, the award is open to novels, plays, poems and non-fiction.
| Year | Work | Author | Ref(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | The Richt Noise | Raymond Vettese | |
| 1989 | Cells of Knowledge | Sian Hayton | |
| 1990 | The Ballad of Sawney Bain | Harry Tait | |
| 1991 | Night Geometry and the Garscadden Trains | A. L. Kennedy | |
| 1992 | Adoption Papers | Jackie Kay | |
| Uirsgeul/Myth | Christopher Whyte | ||
| 1993 | Robert Louis Stevenson: Dreams Of Exile | Ian Bell | |
| 1994 | Music, in a Foreign Language | Andrew Crumey | |
| 1995 | Free Love and Other Stories | Ali Smith | |
| 1996 | Slattern | Kate Clanchy | |
| 1997 | A Painted Field | Robin Robertson | |
| 1998 | The Pied Piper's Poison | Christopher Wallace | |
| Two Clocks Ticking | Dennis O'Donnell | ||
| 1999 | Some Rain Must Fall | Michel Faber | |
| 2000 | The Rising Sun | Douglas Galbraith | |
| 2001 | In the Blue House | Meaghan Delahunt | |
| 2002 | Burns the Radical | Liam McIlvanney | |
| The Cutting Room | Louise Welsh | ||
| 2003 | Ath – Aithne | Martainn Mac an t-Saoir | |
| 2004 | Stargazing | Peter Hill | |
| 2005 | Amande's Bed | John Aberdein | |
| 2006 | George Mackay Brown: The Life | Maggie Fergusson | |
| 2007 | Fresh – A novel | Mark McNay | |
| 2008 | The Good Mayor | Andrew Nicoll | |
| 2009 | The Tin-Kin | Eleanor Thom | |
| 2010 | The History of Orkney Literature | Simon W. Hall | |
| The Death of Lomond Friel | Sue Peebles | ||
| 2011 | The Echo Chamber | Luke Williams | |
| 2012 | The Last Highlander | Sarah Fraser | |
| 2013 | Air Cuan Dubh Drilseach | Tim Armstrong | |
| As Far As I Can See | Eunice Buchanan | ||
| 2014 | Moontide | Niall Campbell | |
| 2015 | On the Edges of Vision | Helen McClory | |
| 2016 | Trials on Death Row | Isabel Buchanan | |
| Expecting | Chitra Ramaswamy | ||
| 2017 | Goblin | Ever Dundas | |
| 2018 | Sal | Mick Kitson | |
| 2019 | Threads of Life | Clare Hunter | |
| Seafarers | Stephen Rutt | ||
| 2020 | |||
| 2021 | Bleak: The Mundane Comedy | Roddy Murray | |
| 2022 | IN | Will McPhail |
Scottish History Book of the Year
The award for History Book of the Year was established in 1965 in honour of the historian Agnes Mure Mackenzie (1891–1955).
| Year | Work | Author | Ref(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | Thomas Chalmers and the Godly Commonwealth | Stewart J. Brown | |
| 1983 | |||
| 1984 | |||
| 1985 | |||
| 1986 | A Century of the Scottish People 1830–1950 | T. C. Smout | |
| 1987 | |||
| 1988 | |||
| 1989 | |||
| 1990 | |||
| 1991 | |||
| 1992 | |||
| 1993 | |||
| 1994 | James I | Michael Brown | |
| 1995 | The Great Highland Famine | Tom Devine | |
| 1996 | |||
| 1997 | The Early Stewart Kings: Robert II and Robert III 1371–1406 | Stephen Boardman | |
| 1998 | The Identity of the Scottish Nation | William Ferguson | |
| 1999 | Patrick Sellar and the Highland Clearances: Homicide, Eviction and the Price of Progress | Eric Richards | |
| 2000 | The Rough Wooings: Mary Queen Of Scots 1542–1551 | Marcus Merriman | |
| 2001 | The Late Medieval Scottish Parliament: Politics and the Three Estates 1424–1488 | Roland Tanner | |
| 2002 | The Culture of Protestantism in Early Modern Scotland | Margo Todd | |
| 2004 | Adventurers and Exiles: The Great Scottish Exodus | Marjory Harper | |
| 2005 | David II | Michael Penman | |
| 2006 | Native Lordships in Medieval Scotland: The Earldoms of Strathearn and Lennox c.1140–1365 | Cynthia J. Neville | |
| 2006 | Scotland's Historic Heraldry | Bruce A. McAndrew | |
| 2007 | The Scots and the Union | Christopher Whatley | |
| 2008 | From Pictland to Alba 789–1070 | Alex Woolf | |
| 2009 | A History of Scottish Philosophy | Alexander Broadie | |
| 2010 | Whaur Extremes Meet: Scotland's Twentieth Century | Catriona M. M. MacDonald | |
| 2011 | The Inner Life of Empires: An Eighteenth Century History | Emma Rothschild | |
| 2012 | A Military History of Scotland | E. Spiers, J. Crang and M. Strickland (editors) | |
| 2013 | An Enlightened Duke: The Life of Archibald Campbell (1682–1761), Earl of Ilay, 3rd Duke of Argyll | Roger L. Emerson | |
| 2014 | Scottish Gods, Religion in the Modern Scotland 1900–2012 | Steve Bruce | |
| 2015 | A Chasm in Time – Scottish War Art And Artists in the Twentieth Century | Patricia R. Andrew | |
| 2016 | Set Adrift Upon the World | James Hunter | |
| 2017 | |||
| 2018 | The Drowned and the Saved | Les Wilson | |
| 2019 | Alexander III, 1249-1286: First Among Equals | Norman Reid | |
| 2020 | |||
| 2021 | Stuart Style: Monarchy, Dress and the Scottish Male Elite | Maria Hayward | |
| 2022 | Slaves and Highlanders: Silenced Histories of Scotland and the Caribbean | David Alston |
Scottish Research Book of the Year
This award was initiated in 1998, and is made jointly by the Saltire Society and the National Library of Scotland. It aims to recognise books which "represent a significant body of research and offer new insight or dimension to the subject".
| Year | Work | Author | Ref(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | The Edinburgh History of the Scots Language | Charles Jones | |
| 1999 | The Poems of William Dunbar (Volumes I & II) | Priscilla Bawcutt | |
| 2000 | Jessie Kesson: Writing her Life | Isobel Murray | |
| The Highland Pipe and Scottish Society | William Donaldson | ||
| 2001 | The Scottish Book Trade 1500−1720 | Alastair J. Mann | |
| 2002 | Sorley Maclean, Poems to Eimhir | Christopher Whyte (editor) | |
| Public Sculpture of Glasgow | Ray McKenzie | ||
| 2003 | The Greig-Duncan Folk Song Collection | Emily B. Lyle and Katherine Campbell | |
| 2004 | The Last of England? | Randall Stevenson | |
| Maritime Enterprise and Empire: Sir William MacKinnon and his Business Network 1823–1893 | J. Forbes Munro | ||
| 2005 | Weights and Measures in Scotland | R. D. Connor and A. D. C. Simpson, edited by Alison Morrison-Low | |
| 2006 | Dùthchas Nan Gàidheal: Selected Essays of John MacInnes | Michael Newton | |
| 2007 | Scotland's Books: The Penguin History of Scottish Literature | Robert Crawford | |
| 2008 | Scott's Shadow: The Novel in Romantic Edinburgh | Ian Duncan | |
| 2009 | Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary | Christian Kay, Jane Roberts, Michael Samuels and Irené Wotherspoon | |
| 2010 | Robert Burns & Pastoral: Poetry and Improvement in Late Eighteenth-Century Scotland | Nigel Leask | |
| Adam Smith: an Enlightened Life | Nicholas Phillipson | ||
| 2011 | Beyond the Last Dragon | James McGonigal | |
| 2012 | Scotland: Mapping the Nation | C. Fleet, C. Withers and M. Wilkes | |
| 2013 | The Sunlit Summit: The Life of W. H. Murray | Robin Lloyd-Jones | |
| 2014 | The Scottish Town in the Age of Enlightenment 1740-1820 | Bob Harris and Charles McKean | |
| 2015 | Clubbing Together: Ethnicity, Civility and Formal Sociability in the Scottish Diaspora to 1930 | Tanja Bueltmann | |
| 2016 | The literary Culture of Early Modern Scotland | Sebastian Verweijj | |
| 2017 | The Light Blue Book: 500 Years of Gaelic Love and Transgressive Verse | Peter Mackay & Iain MacPherson | |
| 2018 | What the Victorians Made of Romanticism: Material Artifacts, Cultural Practices, and Reception History | Tom Mole | |
| 2019 | Working Verse in Victorian Scotland: Poetry, Press, Community | Kirstie Blair | |
| 2020 | |||
| 2021 | Darkness Visible: The Sculptor's Cave, Covesa, from the Bronze Age to the Picts | Ian Armit & Lindsey Buster | |
| 2022 | Surveying the Anthropocene: Environment and Photography Now | Patricia McDonald (ed) |
See also
- Scottish literature
- Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust Book Awards, formerly the Scottish Arts Council Book Awards
- List of history awards
- List of literary awards
- List of awards named after people