Celebrating the best Scottish books since 1937
The Saltire Society exists to champion Scottish culture, and we know that the literature of any country is key to preserving its cultural memory and constructing its national identity. Literature brings joy, helps us make sense of the world, and acts as a catalyst for social and political change.
As a charity, we value the support of those who believe in the power of books and reading. There are different ways you can support our work. To find out more about supporting The Saltires, please contact us.
Our book prizes trace their history to a time when the Society’s founders believed that Scotland’s unique cultural inheritance would not survive the coming decades. The Society awarded its first book prize in 1937, its second year, to Neil Gunn for ‘Highland River’.
While the challenges facing Scottish culture today are different, we know that writers’ conditions are no less precarious and we are proud to celebrate their work with an annual programme of prizes recognising works of poetry, fiction, non-fiction and research, and an award for Lifetime Achievement. We are committed to ensuring that literature is a vital and inclusive part of the cultural landscape and to helping put Scottish books into the hands of readers across the world.
The Book Awards today
The Book Awards are held annually, with prizes for Fiction, Non-fiction, Poetry and Research judged by panels drawn from the literature sector (and the university sector for Research). Within Fiction, Non-fiction and Poetry, we also make an award for debut work. The submission deadline is usually in June for books published in the previous twelve months. Find out more at The Saltires website.
Notable winners
The Book of the Year award makes for a veritable who’s who of Scottish literary talent in the twentieth century, with winners including Muriel Spark, Tom Leonard, Edwin Morgan, Norman McCaig, Sorley MacLean, William McIlvanney, Janice Galloway, Kate Atkinson and Kathleen Jamie. James Robertson, James Kelman and John Burnside are the only writers to have won on multiple occasions, although Sorley MacLean and Edwin Morgan have the unusual honour of having won in their own right, and having been the subject of winning or shortlisted works in the Research category.
The individual category awards (introduced in 2015) have recognised an even greater cohort of writers. Winners of the fiction prize include Ewan Morrison, Graeme Macrae Burnet, Leila Aboulela and Martin MacInnes. Non-fiction winners include Laura Cumming (who also won Book of the Year in 2024), Kapka Kassabova, Gavin Francis and Professor Lady Sue Black. Poetry awards have gone to Jim Carruth, Daisy LaFarge, Janette Ayachi, Kathleen Jamie and many more. From 1988 to 2024, we made an annual award for First Book (now replaced with individual debut awards within the categories of Fiction, Non-Fiction and Poetry). Judges on this award proved very adept at identifying major voices of the future; winners included A.L. Kennedy, Jackie Kay, Ali Smith, Michel Faber, Louise Welsh and Chitra Ramaswamy. The last iteration of the award was won by Jen Stout for her stunning Night Train to Odesa (2024).
