5 - Noticing Talent: Michel Faber, James Kelman, A. L. Kennedy, Ali Smith and the Saltire Society Literary Awards
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 March 2021
Summary
In 2019 the literary critic and writer Lesley McDowell resigned from her role as a judge on the Saltire Society Fiction Book of the Year Award panel because, she argued, ‘no-one on the panel had read all the books in their entirety’ and ‘Lucy Ellmann's Ducks, Newburyport – a book written by a woman about a woman – was being overlooked in favour of a book written by a man about a woman’. A newspaper article discussing this controversy considered it in relation to the wider gender disparities of the Society's Literary Awards and, indeed, in literary prizes in general, citing the work of Nicola Griffith who showed that ‘books most likely to win awards [are] those written by men about men’. However, one of the most striking aspects of the article was how the Society's programme director, Sarah Mason, had framed the Society's response to the incident:
The Saltire Society literary awards have a strong track record in supporting Scottish writers. They enable books, authors and publishers that may not ordinarily receive attention in an incredibly competitive and saturated literary marketplace to be brought to the fore and commended for their achievements. […] The roll call of previous winners is remarkable. Authors like Alasdair Gray, James Kelman, William McIlvanney, Tom Leonard, Muriel Spark, Norman MacCaig, Iain Crichton Smith, Alan Warner, Ali Smith, Liz Lochhead, Janice Galloway, James Robertson, Jackie Kay, Kate Atkinson, AL Kennedy, Sue Black and Michel Faber have all received Saltire Society Literary Awards over the past 37 years. […] What's more, Kennedy, Kay, Faber and Smith all received the Society's First Book of the Year Award for their debut works before going on to have illustrious careers. Such trends indicate that the Society's Literary Award judging panels have, over the years, had an eye for recognising Scotland's best writing talent.
Indeed, the Society's roster of literary award winners is somewhat of a who's who of contemporary Scottish literature. Many of the authors listed are those who, as discussed in the previous chapter, have seemingly transcended their ‘Scottishness’ and become nationally, if not internationally, renowned writers, going on to be shortlisted for, and winning, major prizes and have their work adapted for film, television and theatre.
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- Prizing Scottish LiteratureA Cultural History of the Saltire Society Literary Awards, pp. 121 - 144Publisher: Anthem PressPrint publication year: 2021