Scotland's Favourite Book
BBC Scotland today opens public voting to determine Scotland’s favourite novels.
This is a list that will get people talking and reading. There is such a vast range of good writing in Scotland that choosing which books to include was incredibly difficult. I am really looking forward to seeing how the public will vote.
As part of the BBC #LovetoRead campaign, an expert panel has chosen 30 books from Scottish authors, representing some of the finest writing Scotland has to offer.
Drawing from a rich seam of literature stretching from Robert Louis Stevenson to Denise Mina, the panel have selected a cross section of Scotland’s best-loved novels. Now the public are being asked to decide which books should make the top ten.
Pauline Law, Executive Producer, Arts says: “This is a list that will get people talking and reading. There is such a vast range of good writing in Scotland that choosing which books to include was incredibly difficult. I am really looking forward to seeing how the public will vote.”
So will Harry Potter trump Sunset Song? Will Scotland’s Makar, Jackie Kay triumph over Sir Walter Scott or will it be Arthur Conan Doyle and Ian Rankin vying for a place in the top ten?
Voting is online only from August 1st to August 26th at bbc.co.uk/scotlandsfavouritebook
The top ten books will be revealed in a special BBC Two Scotland programme which will broadcast in October.
Notes to Editors:
1. List attached below:
2. Scotland’s Favourite Book is a partnership between BBC Scotland, The Scottish Book Trust, The Scottish Library and Information Council and The Edinburgh International Book Festival.
3. The panel was curated by The Scottish Book Trust and comprised: Professor Willy Maley, Professor of Renaissance Studies (English Literature), University of Glasgow; Philippa Cochrane, Head of Reader Development, Scottish Book Trust and Jenny Niven, Head of Literature, Creative Scotland
4. The definition of a Scottish book for this vote is a novel by an author born or based in Scotland.
LIST OF SELECTED NOVELS
1 An Oidhche Mus Do Sheol Sinn (The Night Before We Sailed). Angus Peter Campbell
2 Garnethill. Denise Mina
3 Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone. J.K. Rowling
4 How Late It Was, How Late. James Kelman
5 Imagined Corners. Willa Muir
6 Knots and Crosses. Ian Rankin
7 Laidlaw. William McIlvanney
8 Lanark: A Life in Four Books. Alasdair Gray
9 Life After Life. Kate Atkinson
10 Morvern Callar. Alan Warner
11 Rob Roy. Sir Walter Scott
12 So I Am Glad. A.L. Kennedy
13 Sunset Song. Lewis Grassic Gibbon
14 The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Arthur Conan Doyle
15 The Cone-Gatherers. Robin Jenkins
16 The Cutting Room. Louise Welsh
17 The Panopticon. Jenni Fagan
18 The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. Muriel Spark
19 The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner. James Hogg
20 The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Robert Louis Stevenson
21 The Testament of Gideon Mack. James Robertson
22 The Thirty-Nine Steps. John Buchan
23 The Trick is to Keep Breathing. Janice Galloway
24 The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox. Maggie O'Farrell
25 The Wasp Factory. Iain Banks
26 The White Bird Passes. Jessie Kesson
27 Trainspotting. Irvine Welsh
28 Trumpet. Jackie Kay
29 Under the Skin. Michel Faber
30 Wire in the Blood. Val McDermid
RT
