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.

A good selection of Scottish interest material was received by the National Library of Scotland this week, including John Byrne: art and life by Robert Hewison. Scottish artist and playwright John Byrne is perhaps best known as the writer of the award winning television series Tutti Frutti and acclaimed plays such as The slab boys. However, Byrne is also a successful artist and during his career has designed record covers and book jackets as well as theatre sets. This illustrated account of Byrne’s life and work examines the substantial contribution he has made to the literary and visual arts in Scotland. John Byrne: art and life is published by Lund Humphries. You can read more about John Byrne and his play The slab boys on our 12 key Scottish plays web feature.

Golf on the rocks: a journey round Scotland’s island courses by Gary Sutherland (published by Hachette) follows the author as he travels around the Scottish islands playing golf on some of Scotland’s lesser known and most remote golf courses in locations such as Arran, Skye, Orkney and Shetland. As well as describing the golf courses, the author also gives a general account of his travels and the people (and animals) he encounters both on and off the course. You can read more about Scottish golf on our Golf in Scotland web feature and find many references to items about golf in Scotland on Scottish Bibliographies Online.

The work of celebrated Scottish Gaelic poet Sorley MacLean is the subject of Peter Mackay’s book Sorley MacLean, published by the Research Institute for Irish and Scottish Studies. An English language introduction to MacLean, this book examines his poetry in cultural and historical context, providing in depth analysis of several key works.

Sorley MacLean’s Dàin do Eimhir agus Dàin Eile is regarded as the most important 20th century work in Scottish Gaelic. Sangs tae Eimhir by Derrick McClure provides a parallel translation of Dàin do Eimhir into Scots, allowing readers to view the original Gaelic text side by side with McClure’s Scots translation. Sangs tae Eimhir is published by Acair. You can find references to items by and about Sorley Mclean on Scottish Bibliographies Online.