THE broadcaster Sally Magnusson is among the writers in the running for one of Scotland's most prestigious literary awards.
Ms Magnusson has been short listed for the 2018 Saltire Society Award for fiction book of the year for her debut novel The Sealwoman's Gift, alongside Leila Aboulela for Elsewhere, Home, Andrew Crumey for The Great Chain of Unbeing, Manda Scott for A Treachery of Spies, Helen Sedgwick's The Growing Season and Irvine Welsh, for Dead Men's Trousers.
The Saltire book awards encompass six literary awards, and two prizes for publishing, and are organised annually by the Saltire Society
Last year there was controversy when the history book category of the Saltire awards was dropped, due to a lack of books the judges felt were of a good enough quality.
The decision drew the ire of one of the nation's leading historians, Professor Tom Devine.
However, the Scottish History Book of the Year Award is back this year.
READ MORE: Last year's controversy over Saltire's history category
In the poetry book of the year award category, debuts by Sophie Collins and Jay Whittaker are up against collections from the Makar, Jackie Kay, and Robin Robertson, both previous Saltire Literary Award winners, and Roddy Lumsden, who was shortlisted in 2015.
Robertson's The Long Take was also short listed for the Booker Prize.
Death is explored in two books shortlisted for the Non-Fiction Book of the Year Award, All That Remains: A Life in Death by Professor Sue Black and Waiting for the Last Bus by Richard Holloway.
Two renowned Scottish writers are the subjects of shortlisted titles, Joseph Farrell’s Robert Louis Stevenson in Samoa and Alan Taylor’s memoir of Muriel Spark: Appointment in Arezzo.
Also nominations in this category are Moscow Calling by Angus Roxburgh and The Story of Looking by Mark Cousins.
The short list for the history book prize includes Michael Anderson and his Scotland's Populations from the 1850s to Today, Edward Corp's Sir David Nairne. The Life of a Scottish Jacobite at the Court of the Exiled Stuarts, Cairns Craig, The Wealth of the Nation: Scotland, Culture and Independence, JH Elliott's Scots & Catalans, Valerie Wallace, Scottish Presbyterianism and Settler Colonial Politics: Empire of Dissent, Les Wilson's The Drowned and the Saved.
READ MORE: Last year's Saltire prize winner Ever Dundas interviewed
The winners of all literary awards as well as the two publishing awards will be formally announced at a special ceremony at Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh on 30 November.
Also announced at this ceremony in November will be the winner of a special award, “Most Inspiring Saltire First Book Award Winner”, to mark 30 years since the First Book Award was established in 1988.
Sarah Mason, the programme director at the Saltire Society, said: "Spanning poetry, fiction, non-fiction and academic research, once again the Saltire Literary Awards shortlists celebrate the diversity, quality and richness of books to come from Scotland over the past year.
"The Saltire Literary Awards have a proud history of celebrating and bringing wider attention to excellence in all literary forms and we would like to congratulate the writers and publishers who have been shortlisted this year.
"All of them have produced works that are testament to the wealth of talent in Scotland’s literary scene today."
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