Scottish Book Trust Announces Recipients of New Writers Awards 2020

by Rebecca Raeburn
Communications, Edinburgh
City of Literature Trust

22 January 2020

Scottish Book Trust have annouced the 13 recipients of their 2020 New Writers Awards, which provide financial support and mentoring to writers yet to publish a full-length book or collection.

The New Writers Awards, which celebrated its tenth anniversary last year, represents a variety of genres including fiction, narrative non-fiction, poetry, children's fiction and comics.

Six writers from Edinburgh were selected for an award this year, including: Eris Young, Luca Serra, Anne Hay, Ioannis Kalkounos, Lyndsey Croal and Patrick James Errington.

Glasgow writers Shirley Gillian and Bert Thomson were also selected alongside Liam Hagan from North Lanarkshire, Marianne MacRae from Midlothian and Krishan Coupland from East Lothian.

Two writers were chosen to receive the Gaelic New Writers Awards: Andreas Wolff based in Argyll and Mary Ann Kennedy from Lochaber. These prizes are supported by the Gaelic Books Council.

Marc Lambert, CEO of Scottish Book Trust, said:

“Congratulations to our thirteen New Writers Awardees, who join the likes of Graeme Macrae Burnet, Helen Sedgwick and Kirsty Logan. The standard of applications continues to be consistently high, demonstrating the wealth of talent in Scotland. The New Writers Awards provide one-on-one support for current projects, as well as guidance for the future. All of us at Scottish Book Trust look forward to the fruits of the New Writers' projects.”

The New Writers Awards provide a selection of talented writers who have not yet published a full length book or collection with financial support, to enable them to concentrate on developing their work, as well as professional guidance to help them move towards publication.

Each of the 13 recipients will receive a £2,000 cash award and support tailored to their needs including mentoring from writers and industry professionals, training opportunities, and the platform to showcase their work to publishers and agents.

The awards also include the offer of a week-long writing retreat at Moniack Mhor. The retreat provides time, space and the freedom to create new work in idyllic surroundings.

This month, the New Writers Showcase will be taking place on 30 January at Assembly Roxy in Edinburgh to celebrate the work of the New Writers Awardees of 2019. The showcase is a brilliant opportunity to hear from some of Scotland's new writing talent.

Scottish Book Trust

Scottish Book Trust is a national charity changing lives through reading and writing. They inspire and support the people of Scotland to read and write for pleasure through programmes and outreach work that include: gifting books to every child in Scotland to ensure families of all backgrounds can share the joy of books at home; working with teachers to inspire children to develop a love of reading, creating innovative classroom activities, book awards and author events; supporting Scotland’s diverse writing community with their training, awards and writing opportunities; and funding a range of author events for the public to enjoy and promoting Scottish writing to people worldwide.