A trio of Edinburgh writers and an Edinburgh Publishing company have won prestigious awards as part of the 2016 Saltire Literary Awards, announced last night at Central Hall in Tollcross.
Beating off strong competition from publications ranging from a true life thriller set in a remote crofting community to an evocative historical account of the Sutherland Clearances, Edinburgh raised Edinburgh University alumnus Kathleen Jamie’s latest poetry collection, The Bonniest Companie was named 2016 Saltire Society Book of the Year after winning the Saltire Scottish Poetry Book of the Year Award at this year’s awards ceremony.
Meanwhile, Edinburgh born John Kay, Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics and fellow of St. John’s College, Oxford, won the Saltire Scottish Non-Fiction Book of the Year Award for his most recent work, Other People’s Money: Masters of the Universe or Servants of the People?, a critical and revelatory tour of the financial world as it has emerged from the wreckage of the 2008 global financial crisis.
Edinburgh based freelance journalist Chitra Ramaswamy was named joint winner of this year’s Saltire Scottish First Book of the Year Award for her first novel Expecting, a beautiful, terrifying, and emotional reflection on her own pregnancy. University of Glasgow graduate Isabel Buchanan was a joint recipient of the First Book Award for her inaugural novel Trials, an examination of justice and injustice from the perspective of inmates on Pakistan’s death row.
Edinburgh publishing company Floris Books won the Publisher of the year award and, as part of the Saltire Society’s 80th anniversary celebrations, a fully funded placement on the renowned Yale Publishing Course, a week-long intensive classroom-based course hosted on the beautiful and historic Yale University Campus in New Haven, Connecticut in the USA. Floris Books Design and Production Manager Leah McDowell also emerged as the inaugural winner of the Emerging Publisher of the year award, a new addition to the 2016 awards roster in celebration of the Saltire Society’s 80th year.
Meanwhile, University of Edinburgh student Daniel Shand won the Saltire Society International Travel Bursary, supported by the British Council Scotland, which will allow him to travel to Berlin to research European history for his next novel through visits to the Museum of European Cultures, as well as the Stasi Museum, Jewish Museum, and the Topography of Terror.
Now firmly established as Scotland’s most prestigious annual book awards, the Saltire Society Literary Awards are supported by Creative Scotland and celebrate and support literary and academic excellence across six distinct categories. The winner of each individual book award wins a £2,000 cash prize and goes forward to be considered for the Saltire Book of the Year award and an accompanying cash prize of £6,000.
Other award winners this year included His Bloody Project, Graeme MacraeBurnet’s engrossing novel about the true 19th Century case of a multiple murder in a remote crofting community and winner of the Saltire Scottish Fiction Book of the Year award. Set Adrift Upon the World, an evocative account of the Sutherland clearances by James Hunter, was named winner of the History Book of the Year award while Sebastiaan Verweij’s indepth examination of Scottish literary history The Literary Culture of Early Modern Scotland, took the Research Book of the Year award.
Scottish Poetry Book of the Year award winner Kathleen Jamie (above) said: “I’m delighted that The Bonniest Companie has been named ‘Scottish Poetry Book of the Year’, but also a bit embarrassed. It was a terrifically strong shortlist, any of us could have won. Scotland makes very good poets – a fact that’s still not acknowledged as it ought to be. I’m grateful to the judges. It couldn’t have been an easy decision.”
Saltire Scottish Non-Fiction Book of the Year Award winner John Kay said: “I am honoured to receive this award. I have tried to write clearly and comprehensibly about money and finance. I am delighted at this recognition of that effort and hope it will encourage others in the same endeavour.”
Commenting on winning the Saltire Scottish First Book of the Year Award, Chitra Ramaswamy said: “I’m so delighted to have won First Book of the Year for Expecting. It means so much to have my first book recognised by such a prestigious award and to join such an impressive roll call of previous winners. Thank you!”
Katy Lockwood-Holmes, Publisher & Chief Executive at Floris Books, winner of the Saltire Publisher of the Year award said: “Floris has had a sparkling year, but the honour of being named Scottish Publisher of the Year is undoubtedly the crowning achievement. We’re so proud that children’s books, in particular, are being recognised at the highest level. This award is dedicated to the people who have built Floris over four decades: our brilliant authors and illustrators, our creative and tireless team, and the wonderful Scottish literary community who has supported us throughout.”
Leah McDowell, Design & Production Manager at Floris Books, winner of the inaugural Saltire Emerging Publisher of the Year Award added: “I’m truly delighted to have won this inaugural award which celebrates all the amazing, emerging talent that makes the Scottish publishing industry so rich and lively. Publishing is a team effort so big thanks to Floris Books, which has supported me from the beginning, and of course to the immensely talented illustrators I have the privilege to work with every day.”
Executive Director of the Saltire Society Jim Tough said: “This has been another terrific year for the Saltire Literary Awards and an extra special one as we celebrate our 80th anniversary. Every one of the individual book awards were hotly contested, making the judges’ decision a particularly challenging one. The same was also true of this year’s Publisher of the Year Award and new for this year, the Emerging Publisher of the Year Award.
“My congratulations to all of the winners and my heartfelt thanks to the judging panel and to all of our partners and supporters who helped to make the 2016 Saltire Literary Awards such a resounding success. We are proud to have seen these awards grow to embrace every aspect of literary Scotland; the emerging and the established, the academic and the poetic, fiction, non- fiction and publishing. Excellence is the common thread, built on the integrity and freely given commitment of our expert panels.”
Jenny Niven, Head of Literature, Languages and Publishing at Creative Scotland, said: “Huge congratulations to all of the shortlisted authors, category winners and to Kathleen Jamie on winning the 2016 Saltire Book of the Year. A visionary and moving response to a year charged with energy, passion and politics. It was a great pleasure to be part of the judging panel for the 2016 Saltire Society Literary Awards and to read through this impressively diverse list of books. Awards such as this are important as they offer an opportunity to recognise and celebrate the outstanding quality and range of literature in Scotland and raise the national and international profile of talented authors.”
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