Modern Scottish Collections

Next Thursday on December 1 here at the National Library of Scotland, we have the announcement of the Saltire Society Scottish Book of the Year Awards.

The shortlist for the four categories came out earlier this week and features a wide range of works by or about Scots and Scotland. Competing for the Scottish Book of the Year Award are Scots as celebrated and diverse as John Burnside, Alasdair Gray, Jackie Kay, A.L. Kennedy, Ali Smith, and the late Sorley MacLean.

Publishing Scotland has put together a handy summary of all the shortlisted books in the four categories.

Meanwhile the Costa Book Awards nominations include three distinguished Scots – the novel A Summer of Drowning by John Burnside, and two competing poetry collections Fiere by Jackie Kay, and The Bees by Carol Ann Duffy. All are serious contenders.

Scottish interest items recently received by the National Library of Scotland included This road is red, a novel by Alison Irvine. Alison was born in London but moved to Glasgow in 2005. In 2009 Alison was commissioned by Culture Sport Glasgow to write about the Red Road Flats. Alison spent over a year interviewing past and present residents of Red Road and in this novel she re-tells the true stories she unearthed during her research. This road is red is published by Luath Press.

A. J. Cronin: the man who created Dr Findlay by Alan Davies is the first full length biography of the Scottish novelist and physician Archibald Joseph Cronin (1896-1981). This biography examines the Scottish childhood, medical career and private life of Cronin, who is perhaps best known for creating the character of Dr Finlay in a series of novels later adapted for radio and television as Dr Finlay’s Casebook. Cronin was born in Dunbartonshire, educated in Glasgow and practiced medicine in London’s Notting Hill. Ill health forced Cronin to retire from medicine in 1930 and he returned to Scotland where he wrote his first novel Hatter’s Castle. The novel was so successful that Cronin was able to permanently give up practising medicine and concentrate on his writing career. A. J. Cronin: the man who created Dr Findlay is published by Alma.

A handbook of Scotland’s trees edited by Fiona Martynoga and published by Saraband in association with Reforesting Scotland is a guide to the tree species commonly found in Scotland. As well as aiding identification of trees, this guide also provides interesting facts on the current and historical uses of trees, folklore and myths surrounding trees and information on how to grow and look after trees.

There but for the, the latest novel by Scottish author Ali Smith, examines what happens when a stranger turns up at a dinner party and locks himself in a bedroom in the host’s house, refusing to be moved. Ali Smith was born in Inverness and currently lives in Cambridge. You can find references to more items by and about Ali on Scottish Bibliographies Online. There but for the is published by Hamish Hamilton.

Scottish comics : a celebration edited by Alistair McCleery and Benjamin A. Brabon was amongst the Scottish interest titles received by the National Library of Scotland this week. Illustrated with comic strips and prose stories from a selection of D.C. Thomson comics of the last 50 years, this book looks specifically at the treatment of national traditions, masculinity and female role models in Scottish comics over this period. Scottish comics : a celebration is published by Merchiston Publishing, the in-house publishing arm of the Scottish Centre for the Book at Edinburgh Napier University.

Ali Smith, A.L. Kennedy and Emma Tennant are just some of the Scottish authors discussed in Scottish women’s gothic and fantastic writing : fiction since 1978 by Monica Germanà and published by Edinburgh University Press. This book considers some previously overlooked works through the four themes of quests, dangerous women, doubles and ghosts. You can find out more about Scottish authors such as Ali Smith by searching for references on Scottish Bibliographies Online.

The life of Thomas Trotter, Royal Navy physician during the late 18th century, is the subject of Physician to the fleet : the life and times of Thomas Trotter, 1760-1832 by Brian Vale and Griffith Edwards. Thomas Trotter was born in Melrose in 1760 and studied medicine at Edinburgh University. He began his naval career in 1779 and served until 1802, during which period he was instrumental in controlling scurvy, smallpox and typhus in the navy. As well as describing the career of Thomas Trotter, this book looks at the impact of Enlightenment ideas and medical education during the period, as well as the development of new medical techniques and contemporary issues such as the slave trade. Physician to the fleet is published by Boydell Press.

A good selection of new items was received by the National Library of Scotland last week, including The Italian Chapel by Philip Paris, a novel based on the true story of the Italian prisoners of war in Orkney during the Second World War.

Also newly received was Headshook : contemporary novelists and poets writing on Scotland’s future. Edited by Stuart Kelly of the Scotland on Sunday, this book is a collection of new writings on the subject of Scotland’s future by eminent Scottish authors including contributions from Alasdair Gray, Ali Smith, Liz Lochhead, James Kelman.

Another recent addition was Homecomings, the story of a woman who finds the diary of a 19th century crofter in her attic. Homecomings is the debut novel by Donald Paterson who was born in Motherwell, grew up in Tain and now lives in the Black Isle.

Also recently received was Land, sea and Skye, the catalogue for an exhibition of Scottish landscapes by artist Fiona Haldane. The exhibition is being held at Eduardo Alessandro Studios in Dundee during March 2010.