The shortlisted titles for this year’s Saltires, Scotland’s National Book Awards, were announced this evening (Thursday 16th October) at Blackwell’s bookshop in Edinburgh.
Representatives of the judging panels across Fiction, Non-Fiction, Poetry and Research spoke to the wealth and depth of talent on show, which demonstrate a preoccupation in contemporary Scottish literature with our relationship with the world, with human rights, conflict and the climate crisis dominating.
On introducing the 2025 Shortlists, Mairi Kidd, Director of The Saltire Society, said: “The 2025 Saltires’ Shortlists showcase the exceptional variety of work coming out of Scotland today.
“There is a clear preoccupation with the urgent questions of our time, in particular the climate crisis and social justice, and the shortlisted writers bring to bear a constellation of interests in examining these from fascinating and often unexpected angles.
“We very much hope that readers in Scotland and further afield will enjoy exploring the Shortlists and will join us via livestream in November as we announce the winners.’
This year’s Shortlist for Non-Fiction Book of the Year includes a particularly strong showing for memoir and hybrid titles blending memoir with meditations on nature, human migration and identity in troubled times.
Gerry Cambridge’s The Ayrshire Nestling is a genre-straddling memoir of a claustrophobic young manhood transformed by a fascination with birds, and escape into nature; it sits alongside David Farrier’s inspiring and hopeful Nature’s Genius, which explores ways in which humanity might learn from nature’s example to adapt our behaviours to help solve the problems we have created.
Jenni Fagan’s Ootlin is a white-hot journey through the UK’s broken care system, with themes of displacement, exclusion, and the power of story.
Sarah Moss’s My Good Bright Wolf recalls a devastating childhood in which 1970s austerity and second-wave feminism contributed to an eating disorder that would return years later, prompting Moss to confront the controlling and relentless voices that dogged her, and the escape offered by books and writing.
Debut shortlisted Non-fiction titles are Katie Goh’s hybrid memoir Foreign Fruit, and Russia Starts Here by respected journalist Howard Amos.
Themes of social isolation and the effects of poverty on life prospects, and the solace offered by nature and creativity reach across into the Fiction Book of the Year Shortlist.
Karen Campbell’s This Bright Life and Chris McQueer’s Hermit share brilliantly realised young male protagonists, and equally convincing women who strive to forge connections with them, while Michael Pedersen’s Muckle Flugga explores the idiosyncratic relationship of a lighthouse keeper and his son as they steward the light and land of the eponymous island. Sean Lusk’s A Woman of Opinion draws fascinating modern-day resonances from the 18th-century adventures of Mary Wortley Montagu.
Debut shortlisted Fiction titles are Krystelle Bamford’s playful and unsettling Idle Grounds, and Chris Kohler’s bleakly funny Phantom Limb.
The Poetry Book of the Year Shortlist marries boundary-pushing experimentation with mature accomplishment, showing a similar determination to wrestle with life in our restless times.
Niall Campbell’s The Island in the Sound places his Western Isles birthplace into conversation with literature, history and the ‘noise’ of the modern world. Anthony Vahni Capildeo’s spectacular Polkadot Wounds offers conversations with the living and the dead and with writing in other modes and times.
Former Scotland’s Makar Kathleen Jamie offers thoughtful, playful perspectives on the human and natural worlds in lyrical Scots in The Keelie Hawk. Juana Adcock’s I Sugar the Bones explores the crossing of borders between countries, people, languages, and life and death.
Debut shortlisted Poetry titles are Tim Craven’s vibrant and tender Good Sons, and Cáit O’Neill McCullagh’s composed and tactile The Bone Folder.
The winners in each category will be announced on Wednesday 19th November at a ceremony at Edinburgh’s Central Hall, hosted by Coinneach Macleod, the Hebridean Baker.
The winners of the Debut award in each category across Fiction, Non-Fiction and Poetry will each receive a cash prize and a mentoring package to be co-designed with them. Funding from Creative Scotland will also support a wider bursary and coaching programme attached to the awards.
