Highland Book Prize shortlist revealed

The Highland Society of London and Moniack Mhor Writers’ Centre have announced the shortlist for the 2021 Highland Book Prize.

This annual award celebrates the finest work that recognises the rich culture, heritage, and landscape of the Scottish Highlands and Islands.

The four shortlisted titles are all major works in the wider literary field of non-fiction, fiction and poetry.

Eleven titles were selected for the longlist, out of 71 submitted titles published between January and December 2021.

The shortlisted titles are: Slaves and Highlanders by David Alston, Islands of Abandonment by Cal Flyn, The Stone Age by Jen Hadfield, and In a Veil of Mist by Donald S Murray.

Judge Jenny Niven, chairperson of Literature Alliance Scotland, described Slaves and Highlanders as a 'powerful' book that challenges understanding of the Highlands, both in the past and with implications for the present; and as a result 'changes our perspective of Scotland as a whole'. Another judge Kapka Kassabova, poet and writer of fiction and narrative non-fiction, said Cal Flyn was a brilliantly atmospheric writer.

'This haunting, courageous, and informative book takes us to places where past and future meet.’

Speaking about A Veil of Mist, judge Mark Wringe, senior lecturer in Gaelic Language and Culture at the University of the Highlands and Islands, said: ‘Where better to find audacious secrecy for 1950s Cold War biological weapons experiments, than an island community where keeping silent about your deepest concerns, your innermost frustrations is ingrained, especially for its women.'

Kapka said of The Stone Age: ‘In a pantheistic journey of Shetland, Hadfield converses with her environment. The human and more-than-human worlds are perceived to be a seamless whole, and every rock has a voice.

'This book is a literary, environmental, and spiritual adventure.’

The winner will be announced at an award ceremony on Thursday May 26, in Inverness, receiving a £1,000 prize by the Highland Society of London and a writing retreat at Moniack Mhor.