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.

No sooner are the marquees dismantled at the Edinburgh Book Festival than attention turns to Wigtown, Scotland’s only Book Town, and home of a prestigious poetry prize. As usual an impressive array of busy writers have been lured down to Galloway, many of them Scottish – this year we have the strong line-up of Alasdair Gray,Andrew Greig,Jackie Kay,Iain M. Banks,Ronald Frame, James Robertson, and John Byrne as well as locals Liz Niven and Hugh McMillan and the more unexpected Barbara Dickson and Andy Goram with their autobiographies. Wigtown Book Festival runs from 24 September to 3 October.(© Photograph – Angus Bremner)

A good selection of Scottish interest items was received by the National Library of Scotland this week, including the new novel by Louise Welsh. Naming the bones tells the story of a Scottish academic’s quest to unearth information on a Scottish poet who died 30 years previously in mysterious circumstances. An award winning Scottish author, Louise lives and works in Glasgow. Her work has been translated into 20 languages and this is her fourth novel.

Also received this week was Red dust road, the memoir by Scottish author Jackie Kay. Jackie was born in Edinburgh to a Scottish mother and Nigerian father and was adopted by Scottish communists at the age of two. This book traces Jackie’s search for her birth parents, describing her feelings about family and what makes us who we are.

Scottish poet Edwin Morgan was 90 years old last month and to mark the occasion the Scottish Poetry Library and Mariscat Press have jointly published Eddie@90, a collection of tributes from friends and admirers, edited by Robyn Marsack and Hamish Whyte. Our copy was received this week and includes contributions in poetry and prose from many distinguished figures including Liz Lochhead, Ali Smith and James Robertson.

Also amongst this week’s titles was Reforming the Scottish parish: the Reformation in Fife, 1560-1640 by John McCallum. Part of the St Andrews Studies in Reformation History series, this volume discusses the impact of the Reformation on the ministry and worship in Fife.

Another new addition was RLS in love: the love poetry of Robert Louis Stevenson by Stuart Campbell. The first anthology devoted exclusively to this aspect of Stevenson’s writings, this volume also includes an introductory discussion of his life and poems in this context.

The Brewin Dolphin Borders Book Festival has announced the programme for its Melrose long weekend in June. As usual it is a busy few days under the marquees in Harmony Garden with a good sprinkling of media-friendly ticket-selling names. Among the Scottish poets making an appearance are “Poet of the Year” Tom Leonard, STAnza’s Brian Johnstone, Edinburgh Makar Ron Butlin and Festival regular Jackie Kay with her autobiography Red dust road. Scottish masters of prose present include John Aberdein with his award-winning Strip the willow, and Andrew Greig with his tribute to Norman MacCaig, At the loch of the green corrie. There’s also the announcement of the annual Scottish Arts Council awards, more properly named the Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust Book Awards. The National Library of Scotland is sponsoring the visit by the very great, but sadly not Scottish, Hilary Mantel. If only her masterly trip to the early 16th century for Wolf Hall had taken her to the court of the Stewarts …

New items received by the National Library of Scotland this week included Scottish writers talking 4, edited by Isobel Murray. This fourth and final volume in the series features interviews with Jackie Kay, Allan Massie, Ian Rankin, James Robertson and William (Bill) Watson. All the authors were interviewed for this volume by Isobel Murray, Honorary Professor in Modern Scottish Literature at Aberdeen University.

Also new in this week was A model of order : selected letters on poetry and making by Ian Hamilton Finlay, edited by Thomas A. Clark. This book consists of a selection from Ian Hamilton Finlay’s correspondence focussing on the subjects of making and form. The title is taken from Ian Hamilton Finlay’s definition of concrete poetry as “a model of order in a space full of doubt”. On a related note, the Scottish Poetry Library and Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art are jointly curating an exhibition and events programme on concrete poetry, taking place at various venues throughout Edinburgh, including a display at the National Library of Scotland. Further details can be found on the Scottish Poetry Library website.