TLC reader Ewan Morrison has been announced as a finalist in the annual Scottish Book Awards after winning in the Fiction category with his novel Close Your Eyes.
The Awards selection panel this year included Clare English, BBC Radio Presenter; David McCormack of Waterstones; Peggy Hughes, Programme Director at Dundee Literary Festival; Kirsty Logan, Books Editor at The List; and Aly Barr, Development Officer at Creative Scotland.
Awards have previously been made to Janice Galloway for her memoir All Made Up (2012); Jackie Kay for her autobiography Red Dust Road (2011); Donald Worster for his biography A Passion for Nature: The Life of John Muir (2010); James Kelman for his novel Kieron Smith, Boy (2009); and Edwin Morgan for his poetry collection A Book of Lives (2008). The shortlisted authors were selected from a total of 117 titles submitted by publishers from the UK.
Ewan commented on his win: “My Goodness. I remember when Edwin Morgan won one of the Book Awards, then Ali Smith and James Kelman and Janice Galloway – all heroes of mine. So I’m quite in shock to be on the same platform as them. In a way they were the ladder that got me here. I have to thank them for their commitment to a very special kind of literary culture that is unique to Scotland.”
