News from the Scottish Publishing Industry

Issue 93 | June 2020

Scottish Publishing Industry News

Hello

After a few glorious days last week we are back to our more usual Scottish summer - ideal for planning which books to buy in the re-opened bookshops. Our round up of the latest prize winners might help you decide. And do check the online book festivals' programmes and make time to watch favourite or new authors from the comfort of home.

We wish you a happy summer however you spend it.

Best wishes

Joan

Joan Lyle, Publishing Scotland

Below: Everyone at PS is working from home with the help of lots of tea and coffee. The mugs below belong to (from left): Alice, Jess, Joan, Marion, Lucy, Vikki and Andrew.

British Book Awards 2020

Run by The Bookseller, The British Book Awards (or Nibbies) are regarded as ‘the BAFTAs of the book trade’. This year the winners were announced at a virtual awards ceremony on 29 June 2020 watched by many in the industry. Pan Macmillan won Publisher of the Year and Waterstones was named Book Retailer of the Year. You can see the full trade shortlists and winners on the British Books Award website .

Well done to all the winners and those shortlisted including:

Scottish Book Trust ' s Keara Donnachie was highly commended in the Marketing Strategy of the Year category for Book Week Scotland 2019. The winners were Jodie Mullish, Andy Joannou, Will Upcott and Alex Ellis (HarperCollins) for Pinch of Nom .

Sandstone Press won the Scotland category of the British Book Awards Small Press of the Year 2020 . They were in the running for the overall prize which was won by Jacaranda Books .

Jenny Brown of Jenny Brown Associates was shortlisted for the Literary Agent of the Year Award . Karolina Sutton of Curtis Brown won.

Avon Books - an imprint of HarperCollins - won Imprint of the Year.

The Lighthouse Bookshop was the Scotland winner of the British Book Awards' Independent Bookshop of the Year Award 2020 . That meant it was also shortlisted for the overall Independent Bookshop of the Year which was won by Book-ish (the Wales winner) .

The Edinburgh Bookshop was shortlisted for Children's Bookseller of the Year which was won by Moon Lane in London.

There were also Books of the Year Awards . For the full Books of the Year shortlists and winners, see the British Book Awards websit e. See also Alison Flood's article in The Guardian of 29 June 2020: Evaristo and Carty-Williams become first black authors to win top British Book awards . The winners were:

Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams (Trapeze) - both Book of the Year and Fiction: Début Book of the Year
Glrl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo (Hamish Hamilton) - Fiction: Book of the Year
The Testaments by Margaret Atwood (Penguin Random House Audio) - Audiobook of the Year
My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite (Atlantic Books) - Fiction: Crime and Thriller Book of the Year
Three Women by Lisa Taddeo (Bloomsbury Circus) - Non-fiction 'Narrative' Book of the Year
Pinch of Nom by Kate Allinson and Kay Featherstone (Bluebird) - Non-fiction 'Lifestyle' Book of the Year
A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson (Electric Monkey) - Children's: Fiction Book of the Year
The Smeds and The Smoos by Julia Donaldson, illustrated by Axel Scheffler (Alison Green Books) - Children's: Illustrated and Non-Fiction Book of the Year.

Book people news

MAISIE CHAN

Children’s writer Maisie Chan has been appointed as the 2020 Dr Gavin Wallace Fellow and will undertake her Fellowship in partnership with Moat Brae, the National Centre for Children’s Literature based in Dumfries. The writer's cross-cultural children's fiction often features intergenerational relationships, bringing themes of connection, understanding and belonging to young readers. See the Creative Scotland press release of 30 April 2020 .

ANDREA JOYCE

Andrea Joyce stepped down as rights director of Canongate Books on 6 April 2020 after 13 years with the publisher. CEO Jamie Byng paid tribute to her both for the key role she played in Canongate's success and as a delightful colleague. See The Bookseller of 16 April 2020 . It was recently announced that Andrea is to handle rights for Edinburgh-based literary agency Jenny Brown Associates. A past winner of Rights Professional of the Year at the British Book Awards, she will be liaising with scouts and sub-agents to sell the Jenny Brown Associates list internationally. See The Bookseller of 5 June 2020 .

JESSICA NEALE

Jessica Neale was promoted to Canongate Books' rights and contracts director and joined the senior management team in April. She had been senior rights manager there since 2016. See The Bookseller of 16 April 2020

HANNAH KNOWLES

Hannah Knowles has been promoted to editorial director at Canongate Books taking over management of the publisher's Black Thorn crime and thriller paperback list, in addition to commissioning both fiction and non-fiction. See The Bookseller of 28 April 2020 .

VICKI RUTHERFORD

Vicki Rutherford has been appointed to the newly created role of head of editorial management at Canongate Books where she will oversee publishing across all lists. See The Bookseller of 28 April 2020 .

LINA LANGLEE

Lina Langlee has left the Kate Nash Literary Agency to join the North Literary Agency and will remain based in Edinburgh. See The Bookseller of 2 June 2020 .

HACHETTE

Edinburgh has been confirmed as one of Hachette's five new regional hubs. The Edinburgh office is likely to be the biggest and Hodder Gibson will be relocating to it from Glasgow in 2021. See The Bookseller of 16 June 2020 .

Farewells

AILEEN CHRISTIANSON

Aileen Christianson, who has died of cancer aged 75, was a prominent Edinburgh-based academic and writer who spent more than 50 years as researcher and editor at Edinburgh University working on The Collected Letters of Thomas and Jane Welsh Carlyle and wrote a compelling series of books and essays on Scottish women writers, both 19th century and contemporary. Read David Gow's appreciation in The Guardian of 23 June 2020 and The Scotsman obituary of 26 June 2020 .

DOUGLAS GIFFORD

Douglas Gifford was a long-standing judge of the Saltire Literary Awards, chair of LAS, in its previous incarnation as the Literature Forum, and trustee of Abbotsford. He was a tireless and positive supporter of Scottish writing and publishing. His magazine reviews in the 1980s and 1990s were influential in establishing the renaissance of Scottish writing that began with the publication of Lanark. Douglas Gifford was also a lovely, funny man and a delight to work with. Condolences to his family.

The National of 30 June 2020 has an obituary.

Rethinking 'Diversity' in Publishing

Publishing is known to be one of the least diverse and socially mobile creative industries in the UK, and despite a will to change and various initiatives, a new report makes it clear that there needs to be sustained systemic change.

Rethinking ‘Diversity’ in Publishing was l aunched on 23 June 2020 and is the first in-depth academic study in the UK on diversity in trade fiction and the publishing industry.

Written by Dr Anamik Saha and Dr Sandra van Lente, the project is a partnership between

Goldsmiths, University of London,
Spread the Word (read the full report, executive summary, press release and call to action)
The Bookseller (see Mark Chandler's article of 23 June 2020: Publishing must 'radically reimagine' its audience, major diversity study says).

It is based on interviews with authors, agents and representatives from all of the major publishing houses, including CEOs and managing directors, editors, designers and marketing, PR and sales staff. It was funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and is published by Goldsmiths Press.

SYP Scotland organised a panel discussion about visibility in the publishing industry on 28 June 2020 and you can see the video of that on YouTube .

Earlier in the month, Publishing Scotland received a letter from the Scottish BAME Writers Network for us as an organisation, and to send out to our membership which we did. We fully support their call to action and you can read our response on our website .

Bookshops re-open in Scotland

Scottish bookshops are open! Booksellers have been working hard to make their premises safe and welcoming to book buyers and we all look forward to supporting them.

They weren't allowed to open in time for last week's Independent Bookshop Week but many took part digitally.

Book prizes, awards and listings

CILIP CARNEGIE MEDAL 2020

Lark by Anthony McGowan is the winner of the CILIP Carnegie Medal 2020 . Its delighted publisher Barrington Stoke is based in Edinburgh and is the first Scottish publisher of a winner in the award's 84-year history.

CILIP KATE GREENAWAY MEDAL 2020

Australian author and illustrator Shaun Tan, who is of Australian, Chinese and Malay heritage, is the first illustrator of colour to win the Kate Greenaway Medal. His winning book is Tales from the Inner City (Walker Books).

THE PAUL TORDAY MEMORIAL PRIZE 2020

Award-winning author and poet Donald S Murray has won the Society of Authors’ Paul Torday Memorial Prize for his debut novel As the Women Lay Dreaming , published by Saraband.

HIGHLAND BOOK PRIZE 2019

The 2019 prize ( announced in May 2020 ) was collectively awarded to all four short-listed authors who donated the prize money to the Highland Food Bank, supporting families across the Highlands. The winners are:

The Frayed Atlantic Edge: A Historian’s Journey from Shetland to the Channel by David Gange (William Collins)
Surfacing by Kathleen Jamie (Sort of Books)
Spring by Ali Smith (Penguin Random House)
Moder Dy by Roseanne Watt (Polygon)

The 2020 Highland Book Prize is now open to entries and the deadline is 19 August 2020.

ERIC GREGORY AWARD AND THE SOMERSET MAUGHAM PRIZE 2020

As well as the Highland Book Prize above, poet Roseanne Watt won two recently announced Society of Authors Awards for her collection Moder Dy (Polygon).

WALTER SCOTT PRIZE 2020

The Narrow Land by Christine Dwyer Hickey is the winner of this year's Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction . To Calais, In Ordinary Time by James Meek (Canongate Books) was among the books shortlisted .

INDIE BOOK AWARDS 2020

Chosen by a judging panel of independent booksellers, authors and industry influencers, the 2020 Indie Book Award winners were announced during Independent Book Week 2020. They are:

Fiction - Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo (Penguin)
Non-fiction - Mudlarking: Lost and Found on the River Thames by Lara Maiklem (Bloomsbury)
Children’s Fiction - The Girl Who Speaks Bear by Sophie Anderson (Usborne)
Picture Book - Don’t Worry, Little Crab by Chris Haughton (Walker Books).

INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE 2020 SHORTLIST

The Adventures of China Iron by Gabriela Cabezón Cámara, translated by Iona Macintyre and Fiona Mackintosh, and published by Edinburgh-based Charco Press, is one of the six books shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2020 . The winner will be announced at a digital awards ceremony on 26 August 2020 .

NOMMO AWARDS SHORTLIST 2020

A work published by Luna Press Publishing in Edinburgh has been shortlisted for a NOMMO Award for Speculative Fiction by African s. It is: "Incompleteness Theories" in Incomplete Solutions by Wole Talabi (Best Novella). The winner is traditionally announced in October at the start of the Ake Festival in Nigeria.

BLOODY SCOTLAND SCOTTISH CRIME DEBUT OF THE YEAR SHORTLIST

The Crown Agent by Stephen O'Rourke (Sandstone Press) is one of four books on this year's shortlist . The winner will be announced on Friday 18 September 2020.

EDWIN MORGAN POETRY AWARD SHORTLIST 2020

The Edwin Morgan Trust has announced that the poets shortlisted for the Edwin Morgan Poetry Award 2020 are Colin Bramwell, Michael Grieve, Kirsten Kerr, David Linklater, Paul Malgrati, Alycia Pirmohamed and Stewart Sanderson. With a prize of £20,000, the biennial Edwin Morgan Poetry Award is one of the largest in the UK. The winner will be announced at a special online event at the Edinburgh International Book Festival.

MCILVANNEY PRIZE LONGLIST 2020

Among the dozen books longlisted for this Scottish crime writing prize are: Whirligig by Andrew James Greig (Fledgling Press), The Art of Dying by Ambrose Parry (Canongate Press), The Island by Ben McPherson (HarperCollins) and The Red, Red Snow by Caro Ramsay (Severn House). The finalists will be announced on Tuesday 1 September and the winner on Friday 18 September 2020.

CWA DAGGERS LONGLIST 2020

Whirligig by Andrew James Greig (Fledgling Press) is longlisted for the John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger 2020 . The Daggers are run by the Crime Writers' Association (CWA) and the shortlists will be announced later in the summer.

PUBLISHERS' DAGGER LONGLIST 2020

Severn House (owned by Canongate Books) and HQ (a HarperCollins imprint) are both longlisted for this new prestigious Dagger which will be awarded annually to the Best Crime and Mystery Publisher of the Year .

WAINWRIGHT PRIZE FOR NATURE WRITING 2020

Rootbound by Alice Vincent (Canongate) is on the longlist for the 2020 Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing . The shortlists will be announced on 30 July.

POLARI PRIZES LONGLISTS 2020

The longlists for the Polari Prize and Polari First Book Prize for LGBTQ+ literature were unveiled in a digital ceremony hosted by author and founder Paul Burston. There are eleven books on each longlist: see the Polari Prize website for full details.

New Writers Awards 2021 - apply by 8 July

The deadline for all applications is Wednesday 8 July at noon. This is an annual award supporting emerging writers to develop their craft. There are three categories:

Fiction and Narrative Non-Fiction (also known as creative non-fiction)
Poetry
Children’s and Young Adult Fiction.

For full details and to apply, see the Scottish Book Trust website .

Book festivals and other literary events

While many book festivals have cancelled in response to the pandemic restrictions and future uncertainties, others (including Borders, Edinburgh, Islay and Wigtown) will be hosting online festivals this year. Other organisations are also hosting literary events and we include some of them here.

EDINBURGH LITERARY SPOTLIGHT

The UNESCO City of Edinburgh Literature Trust is handing the ‘online mic’ to the city's literary creatives as part of Edinburgh Literature Spotlight. It will feature commissioned pieces from creatives in the city's literary landscape in the form of live videos on Instagram and Facebook, online interviews and Q&As via Zoom, captioned images, blog pieces, and much more. For more information, see the trust’s website.

MY VIRTUAL LITERARY FESTIVAL (VARIOUS DATES)

MYVLF won the BookTech Start-up award at The Bookseller's FutureBook Awards in 2019 so predates the lockdown. See the MYVLF website for details of forthcoming events and recordings of past events.

BORDERS BOOK FESTIVAL ONLINE: 12 JULY TO 27 SEPTEMBER 2020

Starting on Sunday 12 July, a digital programme of forty author events will be available to watch for free online throughout July, August and September. With a lively blend of entertaining and thought-provoking sessions, the festival will bring well-known names from the world of literature, non-fiction, children’s books, stage and screen. For details, see the Borders Book Festival website .

EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL BOOK FESTIVAL ONLINE: 15 TO 31 AUGUST 2020

The programme, made up of over 100 events for adults, families and children, will offer both live and pre-recorded conversations featuring leading writers, poets and participants from around the world. Events will be free to view, and available through the Book Festival’s own website .

ISLAY BOOK FESTIVAL: 27 TO 30 AUGUST 2020

Although disappointed that they won't be able to bring this year's fantastic line-up to Islay, the organisers will be running a digital festival through their website. It will feature contributions from most of the original lparticipants including book introductions and taster sessions, live online performances and author Q&As, workshops and storytelling. See the Islay Book Festival website .

SLAUGHTERFEST: 5 AND 6 SEPTEMBER

To mark publication of The Silent Wife , Karin Slaughter’s 20th book in 20 years, HarperFiction is to present SlaughterFest – a weekend of criminally good virtual events – in a programme curated and presented by the author. Karin Slaughter is calling for UK publishers to submit their authors for various panels. The deadline for submissions is 10 July 2020. See the HarperCollins website for details.

WIGTOWN BOOK FESTIVAL ONLINE: 25 SEPTEMBER TO 4 OCTOBER 2020

Maintaining its pre-announced dates, the 2020 festival will have two main themes: Resilience and Connection. The Resilience theme will explore the explosion of creativity that has emerged in response to the current crisis. Connection will celebrate Wigtown and its region’s international links in a number of events. This will include link-ups with other Book Towns around the world. See the Wigtown Book Festival website .

SCOTTISH INTERNATIONAL STORYTELLING FESTIVAL (SISF): 17 TO 31 OCTOBER

SISF plans to keep its audience ‘In the Flow’ with an eclectic mix of online events and small-scale face-to-face performances, celebrating Scotland ‘a nation shaped by water’, taking them on voyages at home and away. The Festival will not do this in packed theatres, but through live and pre-recorded broadcast events, and through small-scale safely distanced person-to-person events, including ones in outdoor locations. All plans are subject to Scottish Government guidance in the autumn period. See the SISF website for more information.

From Burns to book towns

Our latest BooksfromScotland Issue shines a spotlight on contemporary authors and places of interest in the south west of Scotland, as well as paying tribute to those classic writers from the area who are already widely celebrated. There are many areas of the country where romance, adventure, history and beauty are taken as a given, but this area is quietly getting on with becoming a literary hot spot. It has a historical pedigree not to be sniffed at, and a growing number of brilliant visitor attractions to tempt all visitors.

Frankfurt Book Fair 2020

Many trade conferences and trade book fairs have been cancelled or postponed. However, the world's largest book trade fair will be going ahead in Frankfurt on its scheduled dates of 14 to 18 October. Due to the corona pandemic it will be an on-site programme combined with a forward-looking digital offer. Publishing Scotland will not have a physical stand this year but like many other publishers throughout the world, Scottish publishers will have a digital presence. For more about the Frankfurt Book Fair, see its website .

Jobs, training and other opportunities

U NESCO City of Literature Trust: Board Members

Applications should be submitted by 5 pm on Friday 3 July 2020. See the Trust's website .

The Scottish BAME Writers Network: Co-director

Applications should be submitted by 5 pm on Saturday 11 July 2020. See the SBWN website .

Booking is now open for Publishing Scotland's online Introduction to Proofreading and Introduction to Copy-editing courses in September. Both attract CIEP upgrade points. There are fewer places than on the face-to-face courses so book soon if you are interested.

BookMachine's online CAMPUS courses conveniently take place over several lunchtimes. The next one is Successful Freelancing in August.

The Bookseller Marketing and Publicity Conference 6 to 9 July

Four days of keynotes, case studies and Q&As on the theme of 'How We Work Now'. See the Bookseller website for details and to book.

BIC - the book industry's supply chain organisation - is running its summer and early autumn courses online. They include ONIX Essentials , an Introduction to Production and Ebook Creation .