The winner of the Edwin Morgan Poetry Award 2020 is Alycia Pirmohamed, who has recently completed her PhD at the University of Edinburgh, and is co-founder of the Scottish BAME Writers Network. Her second pamphlet, Hinge (ignition press) is due out next month, and is this season’s Poetry Book Society pamphlet Choice. With a prize of £20,000, the biennial Edwin Morgan Poetry Award is one of the largest in the UK.

Sandstone Press has been shortlisted for The Paperback Bookshop Trade Publisher of the Year in the IPG's Independent Publishing Awards 2020.

Severn House (a Canongate Books company) and HQ (a HarperCollins imprint) are both shortlisted for the new Publisher's Dagger which will be awarded annually to the Best Crime and Mystery Publisher of the Year.

The Bookseller's owner Nigel Roby has bowed out from owning and running the trade magazine which he acquired in 2010. It is only the third time The Bookseller has been sold since it was first launched in 1858. The new owner is the private company that publishes The Stage and the two publications will share premises but be run independently. The Bookseller's Philip Jones and Emma Lowe are to join the executive management team of the Stage Media Co. See The Bookseller 7 August 2020.

Known to many in the UK industry, the founder of Bookcareers.com has been shortlisted for the GBS Services to Independent Publishers Awards at the IPG Independent Publishing Awards 2020. Suzanne provides careers guidance, coaching and redundancy support, and has long been an enthusiastic supporter and champion of the industry as a place to work.

As the Edinburgh International Book Festival can't put on their usual 900+ event Festival in the lovely tented village in Charlotte Square Gardens, they've curated a special online edition.

From 15-31 August, enjoy events for adults and children for free. Through the magic of technology, they'll be crossing continents and time zones to beam events from more than 30 countries straight into your home. What's more, you'll be able chat with fellow Festival goers via digital chatrooms and take part in Q&A sessions, and you'll even be able to meet the author and get your books signed (selected events). All events are free and available to watch on the book festival's website.

There is also a special event for publishers:on Friday 28 August: The Chance to Change - The Future of Publishing.

ONLINE BOOKSHOP: support the festival by buying books

You can buy event-related books from the festival's online bookshop which features a wide range of Scottish publishers' books. It also highlights Edinburgh's other bookshops.

The main image above right is from the book festival's press gallery and is of behind the scenes at the book festival studio (copyright Robin Mair. Edinburgh International Book Festival). The inset is of my view of the same event (Bernardine Evaristo and Nicola Sturgeon) watched at home.

Scottish Book Trust has teamed up with Publishing Scotland and Scotland's publishers to bring you five EXCLUSIVE LISTS of the best new Scottish picture, children's and teen books around!

See the Scottish Book Trust website for: All the Summer Books lists or by age range 0 to 2; 3 to 5; 6 to 8; 9 to 11; and 12+.

Sandstone Press has announced a partnership with anti-slavery charity Unseen as they prepare to publish Stolen Lives: Human Trafficking and Slavery in Britain Today by Louise Hulland.

£2 for every copy of Hulland’s hard-hitting book pre-ordered from Sandstone’s online shop will be donated to Unseen.

Louise Hulland said that when she signed to Sandstone Press to write Stolen Lives, it was because the team understood how imperative it is to bring the issue of human trafficking and slavery to the world. When she found out they intended to donate £2 of every pre-order via their site to Unseen, she was even more delighted. Unseen do incredible work fighting slavery and this partnership perfectly exemplifies how working together can bring change.

This three event celebration of the best in new Scottish writing, co-organised by Publishing Scotland and University of Glasgow's Creative Writing Programme took place earlier in August but you can watch recordings of these three special events until 20 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.

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.

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.

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.

This year’s online mini festival – ‘Tide In, Tide Out’ - replaces what would have been the 17th annual live festival. It will feature talks by writers, poetry readings, an open art exhibition, music and art workshops, portrait sketching via Zoom, virtual tours, and online workshops by critically acclaimed authors for local schools. See the full programme on the Nairn Book & Arts Festival website.

Going online has given festivals opportunities to try something a bit different and Bloody Scotland has really embraced this. The festival has a truly epic scale from its biggest ever panel featuring no less than 27 authors to a session that will bring five continents online together. There will be more spotlights for debut and emerging writers than ever before too. See the programme on the Bloody Scotland website.

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.

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.

In Edinburgh, August is a time where the city becomes a stage, and we invite the whole world to be our audience. Though this year's festivals have been cancelled, with some events migrating online, BooksfromScotland is still here to delight you with book recommendations that encompass the best things about our international festivals. We have drama, music, storytelling and spectacle on offer this month, so take your seats - it's time for curtain up! See The Applause Issue on BooksfromScotland.com.

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.

Bookspeed. The expanding Edinburgh-based book wholesaler has vacancies for a Sales & Marketing Director and a Content Manager. The closing date for both positions is 11 September 2020.

Mo Siewcharran Fund. Publishers wishing to take on a BAME trainee/intern are invited to apply for this fund which pays 80% of salary.The next deadline is 1 September 2020.

Creative Edinburgh Awards. Open for nominations until 9 September 2020.

SGSAH Collaborative Doctoral Awards. Potential partners are invited to submit proposals by 5 October 2020.

Literature House PhD Opportunity. See the Edinburgh City of Literature website.The closing date for applications is 5pm on 1 November 2020.

You can still get a place on Publishing Scotland's online Writing Digital Content course (2 and 3 September) if you are quick. Book and pay on Ticket Tailor..

BookMachine's online CAMPUS courses conveniently take place over several lunchtimes. The next ones in September are Facebook 2020: Changes, updates and trends you need to know and Audience-Centric Book Marketing: Reaching and Engaging the Right Consumers.

BIC - the book industry's supply chain organisation - is running its summer and early autumn courses online. They include Ebook Creation (8 September) and Production for Non-production People (10 September).

The Bookseller's Children's Conference Online 28 September to 1 October 2020. Booking is now open for over twenty virtual talks and panels across four days.

We were sorry to learn of the death of lexicographer, editor and adult education worker Mairi Robinson who died on 17 June 2020 at the age of 75. Both The Herald (6 August 2020) and The Scotsman (16 July 2020) carried obituaries. The Scots Language Centre website also carries a short notice.

Perhaps easier recommended than done these days but excellent advice nonetheless from Sharmaine Lovegrove in The Guardian's 21 Brilliant Ideas to Remake the World series (15 August 2020).

The competition for 7 to 12 year-olds to illustrate JK Rowling's new book attracted over 18,000 entries. The 34 winners (see The Ickabog website) will feature in the book to be published in November 2020.

Another politician and books. This time the @bookshelfcredibility tagline 'What you say is not as important as the bookcase behind you' has never been more pertinent. The display of face-out books behind Boris Johnson on a recent school visit included: The Subtle Knife, Fahrenheit 451, Betrayed, The Resistance, Exodus, The Toll and The Twits. Pictures (including the one below) were widely shared and the story reported everywhere from The Guardian (Sally Weale 26 August 2020) to The Daily Mail (which lists the books in detail - Jack Wright 26 August 2020).