Craigroyston Community High is one of ten Scottish schools to receive an author residency from Scottish Book Trust. Poet and writer Claire Askew will work with the local school to inspire a lifelong love of reading and writing. Continue reading Read all about it: Claire’s coming to Craigie!
Scotland’s top teen creatives presented their latest work at a showcase in Edinburgh this week. Scottish Book Trust partnered with Neu! Reekie! to present the work of the What’s Your Story? ambassadors. Continue reading ‘What’s Your Story?’ showcases Scotland’s young writers and illustrators
Scottish Book Trust opens voting for the 2018 Scottish Teenage Book Prize as shortlist is announced.
Scottish teenagers posed with a ballot box at the Scottish Parliament yesterday to launch the poll to find Scotland’s favourite teen book of the year. Continue reading 2018 Scottish Teenage Book Prize shortlist revealed
A literacy programme at Craigroyston Primary School is in the running for a national award. The pioneering programme jointly ran by Scottish Book Trust and Scottish Gas has been announced as a finalist at the Charity Times Awards. Continue reading Craigroyston Primary project is Charity Times Award finalist
Children from across the country took part in the first celebration event for an initiative that fosters a lifelong love of reading amongst Scotland’s young people. Around 600 P4 – P7 children joined First Minister Nicola Sturgeon at the inaugural First Minister’s Reading Challenge ceremony in Edinburgh. Continue reading Children join First Minister for Reading Challenge celebration
BOOKBUG WEEK 15 – 21 MAY: Bookbug’s Big Giggle
Bookbug Week, an annual celebration of Scotland’s national book gifting programme, will take place between 15 and 21 May, with hundreds of free events for children and babies held across the country.
This year’s theme is Bookbug’s Big Giggle – a fun and playful theme that encourages parents and carers to share playful songs and stories with their children in order to highlight that laughter is essential for well-being and for building bonds between carers and children.
Now in its seventh year, Bookbug Week 2017 will see free Big Giggle themed events taking place in every local authority in Scotland, with special appearances from some of the UK’s best-loved children’s authors and illustrators. Schools and nurseries across the country can also tune in to watch a fun-filled Authors Live event with Alex T Smith, streamed live at 11am on Wednesday 17 May.
Some fantastic Bookbug prizes will also be up for grabs in on-line competitions throughout the week. Families can find details of all Bookbug Week events taking place in their area by dropping in to their local library or by visiting the website at http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/bookbugweek
Marc Lambert, CEO of Scottish Book Trust, said: “Bookbug Week invites every family with young children to take part in the hundreds of free and fun-filled events across Scotland, to celebrate the joy that comes from sharing books and rhymes together. This year’s theme highlights how sharing these fun songs and stories can help with children’s confidence, development, connectivity and over-all well-being.
“Bookbug Week is also the perfect chance to find out more about the Bookbug programme. If you have never been to a Bookbug session this is a great opportunity to experience the fun.”
Bookbug sessions are free story, song and rhyme sessions run by libraries and other community venues across Scotland, with national audiences of over half a million in 2016-17. To celebrate Bookbug Week, Paisley Central Library is holding their very first Bookbug Gigglethon, a Bookbug Session relay starting at 9.30am and finishing at 4.30pm. Families can come along at any time during the day to experience some fun songs, rhymes and stories.
Flagship events to mark Bookbug Week will take place at Callendar House in Falkirk on Wednesday (17 May) between 10am and 2pm, and at the newly opened Carnegie Library in Dunfermline on Friday (19 May) between 10am and 2pm. These are free events, packed with activities and open to all parents, guardians and their babies and children. Illustrator Kasia Matyjaszek will be leading an arts workshop at both events.
Funded by the Scottish Government, Bookbug is Scottish Book Trust’s Early Years Programme. The Bookbug programme encourages mums, dads and carers to sing and share stories with their children from birth. It provides every child in Scotland with four free bags of books, gifting 720,000 books every year. Over 240,000 children in Scotland benefitted last year, with even more set to receive free books in 2017.
Bookbug also runs regular free story, song and rhyme events in libraries, shopping centres and other community venues which attracted audiences of over half a million parents and children in 2016-17.
Borders-based author Claire McFall has been named the winner of the very first Scottish Teenage Book Prize. Claire’s third novel, Black Cairn Point, garnered votes from young people (aged 12 – 16) across the country to beat off stiff competition from Keith Gray’s The Last Soldier and Joan Lennon’s Silver Skin. Continue reading Inaugural Scottish teenage book prize winner revealed
A writer from Edinburgh has come one step closer to having his work published, after being named the recipient of a Scottish Book Trust New Writers Award 2017.
Simon Brown (above) is one of the 10 recipients of the coveted award, run by Scottish Book Trust in association with Creative Scotland. The awards provide a selection of talented, unpublished writers with financial support to enable them to concentrate on developing their work, as well as professional guidance to help them move towards publication.
Each of the 10 recipients will receive a £2,000 cash award and support tailored to their needs including mentoring from writers and industry professionals, training in public relations, social media and performance and the opportunity to showcase their work to publishers and agents. The awards also include a week-long retreat at Moniack Mhor. The retreat provides time, space and the freedom to create new work in idyllic surroundings.
Simon, a Library Assistant from the Southside of Edinburgh, has received a New Writers Award in the Fiction & Narrative Non Fiction category.
Simon was born and raised in the Highlands but now lives in Edinburgh. He’s currently working on his third novel, a story about people who work at the Department of Karmic Affairs, while sprucing up his second. He has one publishing credit to his name – a story that appeared in 404 Ink – but will be working hard to improve that this year.
When he’s not writing he can be found working for the city libraries, where he occasionally has to sing at children, or mucking about with a sampler trying to make hip hop. He wrote his first story, The Hair, when he was six years old. It was about hair.
Commenting on the award, Simon said: “I’ve run out of places to pinch myself. Thank you to Scottish Book Trust for giving me this incredible opportunity – I’m going to work so hard to justify the belief that has been shown in me.”
The three judging panels reviewed over 400 entries in total before selecting the final 10. This year’s judges included Don Paterson, Amy Liptrot and Pamela Butchart.
The full list of the 2017 New Writers Awardees is:
Fiction & Narrative Non Fiction
Anna Stewart (Dundee)
Elisabeth Ingram Wallace (Glasgow)
Laura Morgan (North Sutherland)
Sally Huband (Shetland)
Simon Brown (Edinburgh)
Poetry
Ciara MacLaverty (Glasgow)
Lydia Harris (Orkney)
Molly Vogel (Glasgow)
Children’s and Young Adult Fiction
Christine Laurenson (Shetland)
Helen MacKenzie (Linlithgow)
Caitrin Armstrong, Head of Writer Development at Scottish Book Trust, said: “The New Writers Awards exist to support and nurture the talent and spirit out there in Scotland. We’re here to help the writers who might be bowing under the weight of their commitments or who just need some breathing space and encouragement to keep going. Our 2017 awardees have already produced some fantastic writing, and I can’t wait to see what they create over the next year.”
Aly Barr, Head of Literature, Languages and Publishing, Creative Scotland, said: “The New Writers Awards continue to be both a strong indicator of the next big name in Scottish writing and a vital rung on the ladder for authors taking their first steps as professionals.”
Many New Writers Award recipients go on to secure publishing deals. Upcoming 2017 publications from previous awardees include the much-anticipated Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine (HarperCollins) by Gail Honeyman. 2016 publications from previous awardees include Claire Askew with This Changes Things published by Bloodaxe Books, Lucy Ribchester with The Amber Shadows published by Simon and Schuster, Martin MacInnes with Infinite Ground published by Atlantic Books and Helen Sedgwick with The Comet Seekers published by Harvill Secker. 2012 recipient Graeme Macrae Burnet was shortlisted for the 2016 Man Booker Prize for his second novel, His Bloody Project.
Picture: Rob McDougall
Author Nick Sharratt has been announced as the winner of the very first Bookbug Picture Book Prize for his picture book Shark in the Park on a Windy Day, published by Picture Corgi. Continue reading And the Bookbug Picture Book prizewinner is …
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon today met Glasgow school pupils taking part in the First Minister’s Reading Challenge on the first day of Book Week Scotland. Continue reading Ready, steady, read! First Minister marks start of Book Week Scotland
