Summertime means it’s time to kick back with a good book or two and The Herald is proud to support the new TESCO Bank Summer Read initiative to promote reading and new Scottish books.

An initiative by the Edinburgh UNESCO City of Literature and supported by the Scottish Government, the judging panel for the shortlist included representatives from The Scottish Library and Information Council, Publishing Scotland, Edinburgh International Book Festival, The Herald, and Glasgow Libraries.

The shortlist of twenty books are all set in Scotland or written by Scottish authors and were published between March 1, 2009 and March 31, 2010.

The titles range from fiction and non-fiction, adults, teens, children’s and Gaelic books across different reading tastes, levels and formats so there is sure to be a favourite for everyone!

We now need the Scottish reading public to vote for their favourite from this shortlist to find the year’s best Scottish book. As there are a number of different categories, feel free to vote for more than one book.

After the initiative’s launch at this year’s Aye Write! Glasgow Book Festival in March there will be special events taking place in libraries around the country during the summer months as well as special features on the short listed authors in The Herald to help you decide on your favourite. And of course all the short listed books are available to borrow from your local library.