Scotland’s leading authors are being celebrated for their creativity as organisers announce the shortlist for the 2020 Highland Book Prize.
A total of 13 works by authors from the across the country have been shortlisted for the prestigious accolade including seven works produced by authors born or living in the Highlands.
The Highland Book Prize, established in 2017, showcases the literary talent of the region and celebrates the finest work recognising the rich culture, heritage and landscape of the Highlands.
The Nature of Summer by Jim Crumley, Cottongrass Summer by Roy Dennis and The Good Hawk by Joseph Elliot are among this year’s shortlisted titles.
Rachel Humphries, Director of Moniack Mhor Writers’ Centre, said: “It has been a pleasure to host this prize since 2017, watching it gain support year on year.
“More than ever, this prize is important. It allows us to celebrate literature and place, something that unites many of us. When movement is becoming more and more restricted, we travel through these books to the Highlands, glimpsing a snapshot through the writers’ eyes.”
A panel of 145 volunteers, composed of industry professionals and avid readers from across the country, were tasked with reading 52 entries from more than 30 publishers – immersing themselves in fiction, poetry, memoir, history, nature, crime, young adults and Gaelic titles – before refining the 2020 longlist.
Judges will now compose a shortlist of final entries by March next year, ahead of announcing the winner at the Ullapool Book Festival on May 8.
The winning entry for the best work published in 2020 will receive a cash prize of £1,000 and a place on a writing retreat at Moniack Mhor.