2014 Saltire Literary Awards handed out in Edinburgh
The Saltire Literary Awards for 2014 have been awarded at a ceremony in Edinburgh, with an academic work on 18th century urbanisation scooping the £10,000 top prize.
The Scottish Town in the Age of Enlightenment 1740-1820 by Robert Harris and the late Charles McKean picked up the award for Book of the Year, with Niall Campbell, Alexander Hutchison, Steve Bruce and Booker Prize nominee Ali Smith also grabbing awards. Dingwall’s Sandstone Press was named Publisher of the Year.
Anneliese Mackintosh’s debut Any Other Mouth, published by Freight Books, was nominated for the First Book prize, while Freight itself received a commendation in the Publisher of the Year category. The publisher has released well-reviewed books by the likes of Cathy McSporran and Iain Maloney this year (both receiving four stars in The Skinny), as well as the post-apocalyptic graphic novel IDP:2043 featuring contributions from Denise Mina, Irvine Welsh and a host of Scottish literary luminaries.
Freight’s Adrian Searle told The Skinny: “We’re delighted to be commended. It’s been a year of real progress and growth. We’ve published 28 books. We’ve had some bestsellers and our first BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week. We’ve been shifting lots in the US and we’ve done some significant international rights deals. We’ve had the privilege of working with some fabulous authors. These awards are really important in providing affirmation of what we’re trying to achieve. But we remain highly ambitious. We won’t be resting on our laurels for sure.”
The 2014 Saltire Literary Awards were dished out at Our Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh – read the full list of winners and nominees below.
The Saltire Scottish Book of the Year Award:
WINNER – The Scottish Town in the Age of Enlightenment 1740-1820 by Robert Harris and Charles McKean [Edinburgh University Press]
Saltire Publisher of the Year Award:
WINNER – Sandstone Press
COMMENDED – Freight Books, Birlinn
NOMINATED – Backpage Press, Floris, Bright Red Publishing
Saltire Scottish First Book of the Year Award:
WINNER – Moontide by Niall Campbell [Bloodaxe Books]
NOMINATED – Any Other Mouth by Anneliese MacKintosh [Freight Books], The Monster’s Wife by Kate Horsley [Barbican Press], The Rental Heart by Kirsty Logan [Salt], The Last Pair of Ears by Mary F McDonough [Gadfly Editions], The Legacy of Elizabeth Pringle by Kirsty Wark [Two Roads]
Saltire Scottish History Book of the Year Award:
WINNER – Scottish Gods, Religion in the Modern Scotland 1900-2012 by Steve Bruce [Edinburgh University Press]
NOMINATED – Painting the Town, Scottish Urban History in Art by E.P. Dennison, S. Eydmann, A. Lyell, M. Lynch and S. Stronach [Society of Antiquaries Scotland], A New Race of Men by Michael Fry [Birlinn], Governing Gaeldom: The Scottish Highlands and the Restoration State, 1600-1688 by Alan Kennedy [BRILL, Leiden], Cosmo Innes and the Defence of Scotland’s Past by Dr Richard A Marsden [Ashgate Publishing]
Saltire Society Scottish Research Book of the Year Award:
WINNER – The Scottish Town in the Age of Enlightenment 1740-1820 by Robert Harris and Charles McKean [Edinburgh University Press]
NOMINATED – The Eagle’s Way by Jim Crumley [Saraband], Lexical Change and Attrition in the Scottish Fishing Communities by Robert McColl Millar, William Barras and Lisa Maria Bonnici [Edinburgh University Press], The K2 Man (and his Molluscs) by Catherine Moorehead [Neil Wilson Publishing], Material Culture and Sedition 1688 – 1760 by Murray Pittock [Palgrave Macmillan], Landscapes and Protest in the Scottish Highlands after 1914 by Iain J. M. Robertson [Ashgate Publishing]
Saltire Scottish Literary Book of the Year Award:
WINNER – How to be Both by Ali Smith [Hamish Hamilton]
NOMINATED – All the Rage by A. L. Kennedy [Jonathan Cape], Gone are the Leaves by Anne Donovan [Canongate], Where Memories Go by Sally Magnusson [Two Roads], Cala Bendita ‘s a Bheannachdan Acair by Martin MacIntyre [Acair], The James Plays by Rona Munro [Nick Hern Books]
Scottish Poetry Book of the Year Award:
WINNER – Bones and Breath by Alexander Hutchison [Salt]
NOMINATED – All One Breath by John Burnside [Jonathan Cape], Byssus by Jen Hadfield [Picador], The Cartographer Tries to Map a Way to Zion by Kei Miller [Carcanet], At Maldon by J. O. Morgan [CB Editions], Locust and Marlin by J. L. Williams [Shearsman Books]