Highland Book Prize announces shortlist

Four shortlisted books for The Highland Book Prize 2018 have been announced.

The judges had no small task in selecting from the strong and varied longlist in the awards' second year but have arrived at the four books published in 2018 which reflect the best titles with a Highland connection, says Moniack Mhor Creative Writing Centre which is organising the prizes.

The chosen titles are The Last Wilderness by Neil Ansell, Now We Shall Be Entirely Free by Andrew Miller, The Assynt Crofter by Judith Ross Napier and The Valley at the Centre of the World by Malachy Tallack.

The authors on the shortlist have been invited to the Ullapool Book Festival to read extracts from their work on Saturday May 11 with the winner announced that night.

There were 56 books submitted from 30 publishers in all and a panel of 91 volunteer readers helped with the initial stages of finding a winner.

Chairwoman of Ullapool Book Festival Joan Michael said: 'We are so looking forward to hearing from the four shortlisted writers. The judges doubtless had a difficult job getting from the longlist to the shortlist and must have an even trickier job picking a winner from this fine selection.'

The Highland Book Prize aims to showcase the literary talent of the region and to raise the profile of work created in or about the Highlands.

The winning entry gets £1,000 and a place on a writing retreat at Moniack Mhor near Inverness.