We recently gave you ten unmissable Book Week events happening across the city this month. Well, we have another – Pentlands Book Festival takes place from 11 – 26 November. Continue reading Book Week events: the one that (nearly) got away!
Tag: books
Saltire shortlists announced
Multi-award winning writers and household names Irvine Welsh, James Kelman and Jenni Fagan feature alongside emerging talents Chitra Ramaswamy and Martin MacInnes in the shortlists for the 2016 Saltire Literary awards, unveiled on Thursday. Continue reading Saltire shortlists announced
Forthview up for reading challenge
Children embrace love of books
More than 1,000 schools across Scotland have signed up to an initiative to get children reading for pleasure. Backed by the Scottish Book Trust, the First Minister’s Reading Challenge, which encourages youngsters to enjoy books, has so far been rolled out in 1,277 primary schools. Among them is Forthview Primary, and Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop visited the school yesterday to join the children for a reading session. Continue reading Forthview up for reading challenge
Mara and Craigroyston kids share stories in the garden
Storyteller Mara Menzies joined Craigroyston Primary P2 children for a storytelling session in North Edinburgh Arts’ beautiful community gardens yesterday. Continue reading Mara and Craigroyston kids share stories in the garden
Outlander author joins stellar line-up for Saltire Society’s first ever virtual literary festival
Diana Gabaldon (above), author of the hit Outlander series, now a major TV series, will join top authors Val McDermid, Michael Faber, A. L. Kennedy, Vic Galloway, Juno Dawson and Kirsty Logan for the Saltire Society’s first ever virtual literary festival, taking place from 24 – 26 June. Continue reading Outlander author joins stellar line-up for Saltire Society’s first ever virtual literary festival
Search for sacred in music ‘as strong today as ever’
‘Scotland, now more than ever, needs to hear a wide range of perspectives rather than a narrow orthodoxy.’ – Professor Sir James MacMillan
Distinguished Scottish composer and conductor, Professor Sir James MacMillan, will argue that the “search for the sacred in music is as strong today as it ever was” and is the “bravest, most radical and counter-cultural vision a creative person can have” in a lecture at Glasgow’s St. Mungo’s Museum next Thursday (19 May). Continue reading Search for sacred in music ‘as strong today as ever’
City-based author wins Scottish Children’s Book Award
The Piper tops Scottish Book Awards poll
Danny Weston, the Edinburgh-based author of four novels, was today (2 March) announced as the winner of the Older Readers (12-16 yrs) category of the Scottish Children’s Book Awards 2016, which celebrate the most popular children’s and young adult books by Scottish authors or illustrators.
Scotland’s largest book prize for children’s authors and illustrators, with each winning book receiving £3,000, the Scottish Children’s Book Awards are voted for exclusively by children and are run by Scottish Book Trust and supported by Creative Scotland through Regular Funding.
Nearly 30,000 votes were cast in this year’s awards, which are judged in three age categories – Bookbug Readers (3-7), Younger Readers (8-11) and Older Readers (12-16). Children across Scotland were encouraged to read the three shortlisted books in their age category and to vote for their favourite.
Danny (above), who lives in Tollcross, won the Older Readers (12-16 yrs) category for his book The Piper. Published by Andersen Press, the book follows Peter and his little sister, Daisy, who are evacuated from London to the countryside and find themselves on an isolated farm in the middle of a treacherous marshland. As Daisy gets drawn deeper into the secrets of their new home, Peter starts to realise that something very sinister is going on. What is that music they can hear at night? And who are the children dancing to it?
Danny has published three novels (under the name Philip Caveney) with Edinburgh-based publisher Fledgling Press. These are time travel adventures, all set in Edinburgh at different points in its history. The first book Crow Boy is set in Mary Kings Close, Seventeen Coffins is all about the tiny coffins found on Arthur’s Seat in 1836 and the most recent book, One For Sorrow, is all about Robert Louis Stevenson.
Commenting on his win, Danny said: “I am absolutely thrilled to have won this award, especially because it has been voted for, not by critics and industry insiders, but by the people who matter most; the young readers for whom the story was actually written. Thanks to everyone who voted for ‘The Piper’. You have rocked my world!”
Jasmine Fassl, Head of Schools at Scottish Book Trust, said: “It’s a well-worn statistic that a love of books is more important for children’s educational success than their family’s socio-economic status. Initiatives like the Scottish Children’s Book Awards are intended to instill a love of books in children right from the very start, by making the process of reading fun, interactive and collaborative. But it’s the teachers, librarians, parents, and of course the authors and illustrators, who bring this project to life for the pupils – who download the resources, who put on the silly voices, who cuddle and tickle and leap about. Today we’re celebrating all the people who bring the magic of books to children and set them on a path to being booklovers for life.”
Aly Barr, Head of Literature, Languages and Publishing at Creative Scotland, said: “Once again the Children’s Book Awards confirm Walt Disney’s maxim that “there is more treasure in books than in all the pirate’s loot on Treasure Island”. If you’re only buying one book for your child this year, buy all three!”
Simon Puttock was announced as the winner of the Bookbug (3-7 yrs) category for his picture book Mouse’s First Night at Moonlight School, (illustrated by Ali Pye) and Ross MacKenzie won the Younger Readers (8-11 yrs) category for his book The Nowhere Emporium.
Meet Halle – Edinburgh’s youngest bookworm!
‘Libraries are often the hub of a local community’ – Cabinet Secretary for Culture Fiona Hyslop
She may be too young to read, but Halle Edwards has become Edinburgh’s youngest library member – at the tender age of three weeks! Continue reading Meet Halle – Edinburgh’s youngest bookworm!
Edinburgh teenagers chosen for national writing project
Two Edinburgh teenagers have been selected by Scottish Book Trust to work on a project aimed at increasing opportunities for young people to access and contribute to literary culture across Scotland. Continue reading Edinburgh teenagers chosen for national writing project
Trebles all round as Edinburgh writers scoop awards
It’s ‘Literary’ a hat trick for city authors!
A trio of Edinburgh writers have each won a prestigious award as part of the 2015 Saltire Literary Awards.
Edinburgh City Libraries’ Poet in Residence Ryan Van Winkle has won the Saltire Scottish Poetry Book of the Year Award supported by the Scottish Poetry Library for his latest collection The Good Dark.
Edinburgh-based writer Helen McClory has won the 2015 Saltire Society Scottish First Book of the Year Award for On the Edges of Vision, a collection of dark short stories and prose poetry about the limits of the conscious and the darkness within.
And the Saltire Society Scottish Non-Fiction Book of the Year Award has gone to Adventures in Human Being, a book that takes the reader through surgery, blood, dissection and much besides that keeps the human being ticking over, written by Edinburgh physician Gavin Francis, whose book Empire Antarctica was previously shortlisted for the 2013 Saltire Literary Awards.
Now firmly established as Scotland’s most prestigious annual book awards, the Saltire Society Literary Awards celebrate and support literary and academic excellence across seven distinct categories with the winner of each of six individual book categories going forward to be considered for the Saltire Book of the Year award.
The winner of this year’s headline award was “The Book of Strange New Things”, the latest work from Dutch-born, Scotland-based writer Michel Faber. The Saltire Book of the Year Award is supported by the National Lottery through Creative Scotland.
Faber is a past winner of the Saltire First Book of the Year award for his 2000 debut novel Under the Skin, which was later adapted into a 2013 feature film directed by Jonathan Glazer and starring Scarlett Johansson. His 2002 novel The Crimson Petal and the White was dramatised as a four part BBC television series starring Romola Garai and Richard E. Grant in 2011.
Set in a not-so-distant future where a global corporation has successfully colonised a planet in a neighbouring galaxy, Faber’s latest book is a genre-defying novel that tells the story of Peter, a Christian pastor sent to carry out missionary work amongst the aliens native to the planet. As the story progresses, Peter becomes increasingly uneasy about his situation and the mysterious disappearance of his predecessor and finds it more and more difficult to relate his experiences to his wife back home on Earth.
“The Book of Strange New Things” is a powerful examination of humanity and how a failure to communicate can gradually erode marital intimacy. Cloud Atlas author David Mitchell has called it “Michel Faber’s second masterpiece”. Others have variously described it as “gripping”, “heartbreaking”, and “desperately beautiful, sad and unforgettable”.
Commenting on winning the Saltire Scottish Poetry Book of the Year award, Ryan van Winkle (above) said: “Having chosen Scotland as my adopted home, this is a very special honour for me. I did not expect this at all and am proud that the Saltire Society found ‘The Good Dark’ worthy. I am flattered and grateful for this distinction.”
Winner of the Saltire Society Scottish First Book of the Year Award Helen McClory (above) said: “I am utterly delighted that On the Edges of Vision has won this year’s Saltire First Book of the Year Award. That On the Edges of Vision was published at all seems to me a minor miracle — a case of the right editor at the right moment. Erin McKnight, the Scotland-born American founder of Queen’s Ferry Press, took this collection of flashes, dusted and sharpened them where they needed to be, and ushered them into the world. For the collection to then win this prize is a huge boost not just to myself but the press as well, highlighting QFP’s innovative mission. Sparklers in both hands, quite honestly.”
Andrew Franklin, Managing Director at Profile Books, who published Gavin Francis’ (below) Saltire Society Scottish Non-Fiction Book of the Year Adventures in Human Being, said: “From the bottom of our hearts, lungs, livers, brains, feet and all the other body parts that Gavin writes so brilliantly about, we’re absolutely delighted that the Saltire Prize have chosen Gavin’s wonderfulAdventures in Human Being as the winner of the 2015 prize. Welcome Collection and Profile have always been Gavin’s biggest fans, and it’s fantastic to see his work recognised by such a prestigious prize.”
Executive Director of the Saltire Society Jim Tough said: “Given the sheer breadth and variety of writing talent on display, this has been a vintage year for the Saltire Literary Awards. I think our decision to split the Literary Book Award into two separate categories for fiction and non-fiction has been vindicated. These and indeed 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. 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 2015 Saltire Literary Awards such a resounding success.”
Janet Archer, CEO, Creative Scotland said: “The list of winners takes readers on a journey from the diaspora of Scotland to the horrors of the First World War and out to the ends of the universe. The strength of this year’s shortlist is testament to the quality and scope of Scotland’s rich literary scene. These awards are important as they celebrate and recognise literary excellence in Scotland and highlight established and emerging authors to readers across the country. Huge congratulations to each of the category winners.”