The National Library of Scotland has announced the shortlist for the 2011 Callum Macdonald Memorial Award.
The award, which this year received a record number of entries, recognises, encourages and rewards the publication of poetry in pamphlet form where the pamphlet or its publisher has a connection with Scotland or Scottish Culture.
The shortlist is as follows:
An Illustrated Book About Birds by Anna Davis, published by Anna Davis
Figure in Landscape by Anna Crowe, published by Mariscat Press
Venti by JoAnne McKay, published by JoAnne McKay
Countervailing by David Betteridge, published by Rhizome Press
Lost at Sea by Jean Atkin, published by Roncadora Press
Threading a Viking by Sheena Berry, published by Sheena Watson
The winner and runner-up will be announced at a ceremony at the National Library of Scotland on Wednesday 19 May, when all the entries will also be displayed. The publisher of the winning pamphlet will be presented with a cheque for £750 and will hold the Callum Macdonald Quaich for 12 months.
This year the poet in the winning pamphlet will also be Michael Marks Poet in Residence at the Harvard Center for Hellenic Studies in Greece for two weeks in July 2011, joined by the winner of the Michael Marks Poetry Award, presented by the British Library.
The NLS award is funded by the Michael Marks Charitable Trust, in memory of Scottish literary publisher and printer Callum Macdonald MBE, and is administered in association with his widow, Tessa Ransford OBE.
Tessa Ransford said: “This year we received a great variety of excellent entries, each showing a real flair for design and typography which was sympathetic to the content. Although the judging was difficult, the unanimity among the judges was reassuring.”
The award aims to encourage the preservation of printed material of this kind and all entries submitted are taken into the collections of the National Library of Scotland. As a result the Library currently holds nearly 400 of the finest contemporary Scottish pamphlets in its collections.
Martyn Wade, National Librarian and Chief Executive Officer, adds: “We are delighted to support the Callum Macdonald Memorial Award for the 11th year. As well as providing a very good indication of the variety and good health of pamphlet poetry today, the shortlist also highlights the important contribution of poets and pamphlet publishers to the world of poetry in Scotland and beyond through this kind of publishing.”
