Sundial Scottish Arts Council Book Awards move to Borders Book Festival

The Sundial Scottish Arts Council Book Awards – Scotland’s richest book awards, and the fourth largest in the UK – will be hosted for the first time at the Borders Book Festival in Melrose on 20 June 2008.

The move to Melrose is the first time the award ceremony will be held outwith Edinburgh. The choice of the Borders Book Festival, now in its fifth year, reflects its huge and rapid growth in scale and popularity. The festival, which in previous years has hosted literary giants such as Iain Banks, Michael Palin and Germaine Greer and in 2007 attracted over 5,000 visitors, provides an inspirational literary setting for the award ceremony, which is set to be a highlight of the festival weekend.

The Awards, organised by the Scottish Arts Council since the 1970s, have gone from strength to strength, reflecting the growing prominence of Scottish literature. This is the second year that the awards have been generously sponsored by Sundial Properties, allowing for increased prize money for both the main winner and in four new categories. 

Winners of four categories of fiction, literary non-fiction, poetry and first book will each receive an award of £5,000, and the opportunity to go forward and have their book considered for the title of Sundial Scottish Arts Council Book of the Year 2008, an accolade which will net the author a total prize of £25,000.

Some forty titles, all published for the first time in 2007, have been submitted by publishers to form the longlist.  Entries include a wide range of authors and literary styles, from well-known bestsellers such as Edwin Morgan, A.L. Kennedy and Andrew Marr, to work by new writers such as Mark McNay and Remzije Sherifi.

The difficult job of sifting through this longlist will be down to a distinguished judging panel comprised of writer and broadcaster Janice Galloway; Professor of Literature, literary critic and poet Rory Watson; Lilias Fraser, Reader Development Officer at the Scottish Poetry Library; and Dr Gavin Wallace, Scottish Arts Council Head of Literature, who will chair the judging process in a non-voting capacity.

Commenting on her role as a judge, Lilias Fraser stated: ‘The sheer variety of books on the longlist is proof, if we needed it, of the strength of Scottish writing just now. And since I work at the Scottish Poetry Library, I’m happy to find a very healthy number of poetry books in my reading pile.

'I get to read the entire longlist of new Scottish books, then talk books with Janice Galloway and Rory Watson – what’s not to like?  But I can see already that narrowing down the choices is going to be hard, and picking winners even harder.’

Awards judge Rory Watson added: ‘It's a privilege to be asked to judge the best Scottish writing over the last year, especially with the different genres.  There are good things in every category, but I think the poetry submission is really impressive this year, and there are strong contenders in the non-fiction, too.

'I'm a compulsive reader so serving on the panel with Janice and Lilias and getting to talk about books is no hardship at all.’

Panel Chair and Scottish Arts Council Head of Literature Gavin Wallace said: ‘It will be an honour to chair of such a distinguished and committed panel of judges, though there’s no doubt that their task in many ways will be a challenging and unenviable one. Such is the profusion of sheer world-class excellence across the board in contemporary Scottish writing, the judges could offer double the number of awards. We’re deeply grateful that the support of Sundial Properties allows us to offer the richest literary prizes of their kind in Scotland.’

Commenting on the move to the Scottish Borders, Borders Book Festival Director Alistair Moffat said: ‘Walter Scott invented the bestseller and created all sorts of literary forms- and it is more than appropriate that one of the focal points of the literary year has shifted to the Borders. Not only would that have tickled Scott greatly, it will delight the large and growing audience for the Borders Book Festival. And we are delighted to host the Sundial Scottish Arts Council Book Awards.’

William Gray Muir of Sundial Properties, who sponsor the awards, added: ‘The Sundial Scottish Arts Council Book Awards are intended to act as a showcase for the best of contemporary Scottish Literature to the reading public across the whole country.  We’re thrilled about the opportunity the Borders Book Festival has given to the prize.  Where better to start this extended literary tour of the nation?'

Notes to editors

1. The Scottish Arts Council serves the people of Scotland by fostering arts of excellence through investment, development, research and advocacy. Our corporate aims are: to support artists to fulfil their creative and business potential; to increase participation in the arts; and to place the arts, culture and creativity at the heart of learning. We invest £60m each year, including £15 million of National Lottery funding. For more information visit: www.scottisharts.org.uk
2. The Sundial Scottish Arts Council Book of the Year award ceremony will take place on the evening of 20 June 2008 at the Borders Book Festival in Melrose.
3. The move to the Borders marks the beginning a programme, which will roll out the Awards nationally in partnership with Scotland’s growing number of dynamic book festivals, on a rotating basis.
4. The Borders Book Festival takes place in Melrose from 19 – 22 June. For more information visit www.bordersbookfestival.org. a full programme of events will be available from 9 April 2008.
5. The Awards are kindly supported by Sundial Properties. Sundial is Scotland’s leading restoring developer of listed buildings, with a track record stretching back for more than 30 years. The company is family owned and managed.

Contact email(s)

media.office@scottisharts.org.uk

Issued by: Scottish Arts Council