The shortlisted titles for this year’s Saltires, Scotland’s National Book Awards, are announced today Thursday 15th October by newly appointed incoming Director of the Book Awards, Keira Brown.
Representatives of the judging panels from across the four categories — Fiction, Non-Fiction, Poetry and Research – commended the impressive range of literary talent on show across this year’s Shortlists, which speak to a contemporary Scottish literature scene preoccupied with connection, identity, loss and resilient hopefulness, with the importance of creativity as a human imperative amid challenge and struggle at its heart.
This year’s Shortlist for Non-Fiction Book of the Year demonstrates a particular interest in the importance of human connection — with each other, with our own selves, and with the natural world around us.
Gavin Francis’s The Unfragile Mind is a journey into the nature of mental health, from a writer who has spent his professional life exploring every aspect of it; it sits alongside Drystone: A Life Rebuilt by debut author Kristie de Garis, a raw and visceral memoir about mental recovery through the slow, stubborn craft of drystone walling.
Clare Hunter’s Making Matters: In Search of Creative Wonders stands as a tribute to the simple pleasures and benefits of crafting, so often lost as childhood morphs into adulthood; and exploring pleasure of a different creative kind is Grant McPhee’s Caledonia Screaming, the story of the punk movement in Scotland in the mid-1970s, in the wake of the moral panic of the Sex Pistols Anarchy tour of 1976.
Cal Flyn’s The Savage Landscape: How We Made the Wilderness explores the deep yearning humans have for landscapes that remain beyond our reach, and connects the human stories that can be found in those awe-inspiring, wild spaces; and On Friendship by Andrew O’Hagan dares to imagine, through its exploration of this most vital of human values, what a wilderness life might prove to be were it not for the many and varied friendships that sustain us.
Themes of love and interconnectedness reach across into the Fiction Book of the Year Shortlist, with crime thrillers also having a strong showing this year.
Damian Barr’s The Two Roberts and Andrew Meehan’s Hey Man share beautifully, movingly crafted stories of male love and companionship, while Gerda Stevenson’s Cat Wumman explores the joys and tragedies of female human existence through short stories written in Scots.
Chris Barkley’s debut, The Man on the Endless Stair, meanwhile, combines a pacey, compulsive thriller narrative with the eerie Hebridean island setting and the claustrophobia of the 1950s literary world; and fellow debut nominee Natalie Jayne Clark’s The Malt Whisky Murders offers a tale of intrigue, murder and love, putting an original queer twist on Tartan Noir, and Alan Parks’ Gunner is the first instalment of a suspenseful World War II thriller series, packed with high-level conspiracy, chaos and danger.
The Poetry Book of the Year Shortlist shows contemporary poets addressing themes of resilience, hope and connection in a world which is often unpredictable and divisive.
Vicky Husband’s Glasgoscopy centres itself firmly in North-West Glasgow, interrogating the relationship between city and citizen, whilst Weathershaker by Stewart Sanderson explores humanity in the wider context of a changing climate, an unsteady present and a contingent future.
Former Edinburgh Makar Hannah Lavery’s Everything Everyday examines the modern world through the lens of collective mourning and increasing unpredictability, but also through unshakable resilience, promise, and the art of living – and loving – in a world that is as beautiful as it is unknowable; and Devour Everything by debut writer Sarah Stewart and Some Things I Do Not Know by Arthur Allen both continue the exploration of loss, memory and identity, through motherhood in the work of Sarah Stewart, and friendship in the poetry of Arthur Allen.
In Goonie, the debut collection from spoken-word artist Michael Mullen, vernacular vignettes encapsulate togetherness, acceptance and creative expression, asking how we form communities around us, and how those communities, in turn, shape us as individuals.
The Research Book of the Year Shortlist contains readable work of the highest order. It includes: prominent archaeologist David Caldwell’s landmark The Archaeology of Finlaggan, a definitive and breathtaking study of the historic home of the Lord of the Isles on Islay; Clare Jackson’s A Mirror of Great Britain, which offers marvellously fresh insights as it explores James VI and I and his times; Marc Mierowsky’s A Spy Among Us, providing a compelling narrative and a revelatory take on Daniel Defoe, in the context of negotiations for the Union of England and Scotland; the beautifully written Nocturnes and the Fascination of Night Music by Susan Tomes, an enjoyable and imaginative exploration of the music of twilight and sleep; and Paul Wood’s The Life of Thomas Reid, marking a lifetime achievement, providing amazing new perspectives on the Scottish Enlightenment.
The winners in each category, along with the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award, will be announced on Wednesday 18th November at a ceremony at Edinburgh’s Central Hall, hosted by Coinneach Macleod, the Hebridean Baker.
The incoming Director of the Saltires, Keira Brown, will make her first public address that evening, and The Edinburgh Bookshop will be the trade partner for the event.
The winners of the Debut award, which are celebrated 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.
On introducing the 2026 Shortlists, Director Designate of Scotland’s National Book Awards, Keira Brown, said: “We are excited to be sharing these Saltires Book Awards Shortlists, which illustrate the vibrancy and variety of talent on show in Scotland’s contemporary writing scene right now. It’s heartening to see a range of both familiar and emerging names that adorn the tapestry of our fine national writing heritage.
“It’s such a privilege to be joining the Saltire Awards at such a crucial time, and during its 90th year, with much to celebrate in the world of Scottish literature. Being a champion and advocate for Scottish writers, I look forward very much to working with the Saltire Society Council and its members.
“Awards like the Saltires can really elevate writing talent and increase book sales for the outstanding work they celebrate, as well as offer encouragement and a building block upon which writers can further hone their craft.
“Scotland’s National Book Awards are crucial for supporting and propagating the wealth of writers our nation has, from the Highlands and Islands to the Borders, and it’s imperative that we be fresh, bold, and ambitious.”
The NON-FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR Shortlist is:
The Savage Landscape, Cal Flyn (William Collins, HarperCollins)
The Unfragile Mind, Gavin Francis (Profile)
Drystone, Kirstie de Garis (Polygon, Birlinn)
On Friendship, Andrew O’Hagan (Faber & Faber)
Making Matters, Clare Hunter (Sceptre)
Caledonia Screaming, Grant McPhee (Into Books)
The FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR Shortlist is:
The Man on the Endless Stair, Chris Barkley (Polygon, Birlinn)
The Two Roberts, Damian Barr (Canongate)
The Malt Whisky Murders, Natalie Jayne Clark (Polygon, Birlinn)
Hey Man, Andrew Meehan (Muswell Press)
Gunner, Alan Parks (Baskerville)
Cat Wumman, Gerda Stevenson (Luath Press)
The POETRY BOOK OF THE YEAR Shortlist is:
Some Things I Do Not Know by Arthur Allen (Shearsman Books)
Glasgoscopy, Vicky Husband (Vagabond Voices)
Everything Everyday, Hannah Lavery (Birlinn)
Goonie, Michael Mullen (Corsair)
Weathershaker by Stewart Sanderson (Tapsalteerie)
Devour Everything, Sarah Stewart (Tapsalteerie)
The RESEARCH BOOK OF THE YEAR Shortlist is:
The Archaeology of Finlaggan, Islay, David Caldwell (The Society of the Antiquaries of Scotland)
A Mirror of Great Britain, Clare Jackson (Penguin Random House)
A Spy Amongst Us, Marc Mierowsky (YUP)
Nocturnes and the Fascination of Night Music, Susan Tomes (YUP)
The Life of Thomas Reid, Paul Wood (EUP)
