Scotland's National Book Awards 2017 - Winners

Scottish Book of the Year 2017 - Border: A Journey to the Edge of Europe, Kapka Kassabova

Border: A Journey to the Edge of Europe, looking at the borderlines that exist between countries, cultures and people was announced as the Scottish Book of the Year at the Saltire Literary Awards 2017.

Describing the book, the judges noted:  ‘If ever there was a book for our times, it is Border: A journey to the Edge of Europe, delves into the stories of when the lines that separate countries on the map harden once more after their Cold War thaw. It is at once timely and timeless, with Kassabova - the poet and travel writer by trade - blending skills to spin something truly magical, and sadly, entirely necessary.’

Fiction Book of the Year 2017 - Memory and Straw, Angus Peter Campbell

Vulnerable, mutable, passing. But in this lyrical novel of juxtapositions, where ancient masks and the robot masks of Artificial Intelligence are lifted, memory and straw turn out to be the vital, eternal threads on which our humanity depends. This novel in English by Scotland's most renowned Gaelic novelist is possibly his best yet. 

First Book of the Year 2017 - Goblin, Ever Dundas

The story of a wartime outcast orphan, as drawn from the ether of memory and imagination. And a novel drawn from a distinctive, exciting and important new literary voice in Ever Dundas. One that weaves together grand themes around gender, animals, memory and the use of fantasy as a psychic defence. A narrative that reaches across the decades, between light and dark, the magical and the macabre, comparing a man to an artichoke. 

Non-Fiction Book of the Year 2017 - Border: A Journey to the Edge of Europe, Kapka Kassabova

If ever there was a book for our times, it is Border: A journey to the Edge of Europe, delves into the stories of when the lines that separate countries on the map harden once more after their Cold War thaw. It is at once timely and timeless, with Kassabova - the poet and travel writer by trade - blending skills to spin something truly magical, and sadly, entirely necessary.

Poetry Book of the Year 2017 - Bird-Woman, Em Strang

Strang's collection is dedicated to and claims kin with every living thing. She embraces the domestic and the strange, blurring the boundaries between people, animals, landscape and weather in poetry that is constructed with passion. If you don't always know what she is up to, you feel sure it's worth working it out. This is spellbinding poetry.

Research Book of the Year 2017 - The Light Blue Book, Peter Mackay & Iain MacPherson

This anthology presents a new view of a Gaelic culture of erotic and bawdy poetry. The editors present and translate Gaelic poems from the 16th century onwards which are erotic, rude or simply about love, and re-instate this tradition which has not always been visible in the Gaelic canon.

Publisher of the Year 2017 - Birlinn

Over its 25 years of publishing, Birlinn has consistently produced interesting, important and quality books with high production values. Their development in recent years and work to increase their public engagement shows them to be a publisher evolving with the industry and their audience. 

Emerging Publisher of the Year 2017 - Laura Jones and Heather McDaid, 404 Ink

Only in its second year, the winner of the Saltire Emerging Publisher of the Year Award was also announced as being presented jointly to founders of indie publisher 404Ink, Laura Jones and Heather McDaid, whose dedication and innovation are changing the face of modern Scottish publishing.

2017 Saltire Literary Awards Shortlist

Saltire Society Scottish Fiction Book of the Year Award, sponsored by Creative Scotland

• Ashland and Vine by John Burnside, published by Jonathan Cape
• Memory and Straw by Angus Peter Campbell, published by Luath
• Midwinter Break by Bernard MacLaverty, published by Jonathan Cape
• Dalila by Jason Donald, published by Jonathan Cape
• The Long Drop by Denise Mina, published by Harvill Secker
• That was a Shiver and Other Stories by James Kelman, published by Canongate

Saltire Society Scottish Non-Fiction Book of the Year Award

• Al Britannia, My Country: A Journey Through Muslim Britain by James Ferguson, published by Transworld Publishers
• Scotland: Mapping the Islands edited by Christopher Fleet, Charles W.J. Withers, and Margaret Wilkes published by Birlinn
• Love of Country by Madeleine Bunting published by Granta Books
• Border: A Journey to the Edge of Europe by Kapka Kassabova, published by Granta Books
• Waypoints: Seascapes and Stories of Scotland's West Coast by ian Stephen, published by Bloomsbury
• The Passion of Harry Bingo: Further Dispatches from Unreported Scotland by Peter Ross published by Sandstone Press Ltd

Saltire Society Scottish Research Book of the Year Award, sponsored by the National Library of Scotland

• The Campbells of the Ark: Men of Argyll in 1745 (Vol I and II) by Ronald Black published by John Donald (Birlinn Ltd)
• Muslims in Scotland: The Making of Community in a Post-9/11 World by Stefano Bonino published by Edinburgh University Press
• History as Theatrical Metaphor by Ian Brown published by Palgrave Macmillan
• The Light Blue Book: 500 Years of Gaelic Love and Transgressive Verse Edited by Peter Mackay &  Iain MacPherson, published by Luath
• Immortal Memory: Burns and the Scottish People by Christopher Whatley, published by John Donald (Birlinn Ltd)

Saltire Society Scottish Poetry Book of the Year Award

• Still Life With Feeding Snake by John Burnside, published by Jonathan Cape
• Farm by the Shore by Thomas A. Clark, published by Carcanet
• Bird-Woman by Em Strang, published by Shearsman
• Twist by Pippa Little, published by Arc
• In Search of Dustie-Fute by David Kinloch, published by Carcanet Press
• Moon for Sale by Richard Price, published by Carcanet

Saltire Society Scottish First Book of the Year Award

• Goblin by Ever Dundas, published by Freight Books
• The Case Room by Kate Hunter, published by Fledgling Press Ltd
• Beneath the Skin by Sandra Ireland, published by Polygon
• Language of my Choosing: A Creative Scots- Italian Memoir by Luath
• Mary’s the Name by Ross Sayer, published by Cranachan Publishing
• Fallow by Daniel Shand, published by Sandstone Press Ltd

 Saltire Publisher of the Year Award

• 404 Ink
• BHP Comics
• Birlinn
• Canongate
• Handspring
• Vagabond Voices

Saltire Emerging Publisher of the Year Award

• Heather McDaid, 404 Ink
• Kirstin Lamb, Barrington Stoke
• Laura Jones, 404 Ink
• Laura Waddell, Harper Collins