Latest news with #McIlvanneyPrize
The Herald Scotland
01-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
I love the Scottish bookshop that only sells romantic fiction
But it isn't just the cities the indies are colonising. Far from it. London dominates, unsurprisingly, but data shows that in Scotland it's the south-west which leads the way – also unsurprising given that it hosts Wigtown, home of the Wigtown Book Festival and Scotland's acknowledged book town. There's an almost equally good spread across the Highlands and Islands. A newer development in the world of independent bookshops is the rise of outlets catering to niche tastes or particular genres, a sure sign of confidence in the market. With the boom in the romantasy genre and the rise of TikTok as a means of promotion and the dissemination of pithy reviews there has been a slew of romance-centred bookshops opening across the Pond and inevitably the trend is now reaching these stores. Read More: In Edinburgh you'll find Book Lovers Bookshop, which was the first in the UK to open and which specialises in romance fiction. The capital also hosts Rare Birds, which specialises in writing by women. For those wanting something with a keen political edge there's Glasgow's venerable Calton Books. It styles itself 'the best wee radical bookshop on the planet', though if you wanted to test the theory you could also head for Lighthouse Books in Edinburgh. Sci-fi, comics and graphic novels? Hit Edinburgh's Transreal Fiction or Glasgow's City Centre Comics. We have nothing in Scotland to match Cambridge's crime specialist Bodies In The Bookshop – but it's surely only a matter of time. Blood list Stirling's crime fiction festival Bloody Scotland has just announced the 13-strong longlist for the prestigious McIlvanney Prize. It contains a pleasing bevvy of heavy hitters – Ian Rankin, Denise Mina, Alan Parks and Ambrose Parry all feature, as does Liam McIlvanney after whose father the prize is named – while DV Bishop, whose Cesare Aldo novels are set in Renaissance Florence, makes the longlist for the second year running. Sir Ian Rankin (Image: PA) Among the other contenders are Lin Anderson, Daniel Aubrey Heather Critchlow, Allan Gaw, Callum McSorley, and Douglas Skelton, while Edinburgh-based Tariq Ashkanani steps up having won the Best Debut prize in 2022. He's one of five longlisted authors who have been previously shortlisted in that category. Quite the production line, then. 'It is great to see so many authors graduating from the debut shortlist to the main prize and slugging it out with more established names,' says festival director Bob McDevitt. 'I'm glad I don't have to pick a winner.' No indeed. That invidious task falls to the judges – BBC Radio Scotland presenter Nicola Meighan, journalist Arusa Qureshi and crime blogger Gordon McGhie. They will announce their decision on September 12, the festival's opening night. And finally I admit I had grave doubts about how Lana Del Rey would come across at Hampden Park. For over a decade now nobody can touch her for moody, Goth-tinged torch songs wrapped up in a lyrical and aesthetic conceit which turns LA into a hazy and sometimes hazardous playground. A singer with her feet in the 2020s and her beehive in the mid-1960s, Del Rey is quite simply incomparable. But intimacy is her calling card and that's difficult to achieve in a stadium setting. So how did it go? The Herald's Gabriel McKay was there to see. Elsewhere music critic Keith Bruce travelled to the East Neuk Festival for the opening concert which featured the Scottish Chamber Orchestra performing with Sean Shibe, one of a series of concerts Edinburgh's guitar wunderkind is giving across the programme. The theatre are hotting up as well – literally as well metaphorically, given the weather – and critic Neil Cooper has been busy. In Glasgow he caught a performance of Peter Arnott's dark and troubling monologue The Inquisitor at Òran Mór in Glasgow while across the city at the Tron Theatre he was in the audience for Douglas Maxwell's heart-warming Man's Best Friend. At the Festival Theatre in Edinburgh, meanwhile, he watched a production of Ali Milles' The Croft, a ghost story set against the background of the Highland Clearances.
The Independent
01-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Author Liam McIlvanney longlisted for book prize named after his father
Author Liam McIlvanney is among those in the running for a crime writing prize named after his father, along with Sir Ian Rankin, Denise Mina and others. Lin Anderson and Alan Parks are also on the 13-strong longlist for the 2025 McIlvanney Prize which was unveiled by the Bloody Scotland festival on Tuesday. The writing duo Ambrose Parry, consisting of Chris Brookmyre and Marisa Haetzman, also makes the longlist. The accolade recognises excellence in Scottish crime writing and is named in memory of William McIlvanney, often described as the godfather of tartan noir. The list features five authors who organisers say got their first big break when they were shortlisted for the Bloody Scotland Debut Prize. Callum McSorley was shortlisted for the debut prize in 2023 when he went on to win the main McIlvanney prize, while Tariq Ashkanani and Allan Gaw have both won the debut prize – in 2022 and 2024 respectively. Heather Critchlow and Daniel Aubrey have both previously been shortlisted for the debut prize. Festival director Bob McDevitt said: 'Supporting new writers is at the heart of Bloody Scotland and it is great to see so many authors graduating from the debut shortlist to the main prize and slugging it out with more established names. 'I'm glad I don't have to pick a winner from this excellent crop of crime novels.' The winner of the prize will be announced on the opening night of the Bloody Scotland International Crime Writing Festival in Stirling on September 12. The longlist was chosen by a panel of booksellers, librarians, broadcasters and bloggers. DV Bishop, who originally won Pitch Perfect at Bloody Scotland in 2018, is one of only two authors who appears on the longlist for the second year in a row. Douglas Skelton, who has now been longlisted for the prize six times, also appeared on the longlist last year. – Works and authors named on the longlist Whispers of the Dead by Lin Anderson The Midnight King by Tariq Ashkanani The Dying Light by Daniel Aubrey Carnival of Lies by DV Bishop Unsound by Heather Critchlow The Moon's More Feeble Fire by Allan Gaw The Good Father by Liam McIlvanney Paperboy by Callum McSorley The Good Liar by Denise Mina Gunner by Alan Parks Death of Shame by Ambrose Parry Midnight and Blue by Sir Ian Rankin A Thief's Blood by Douglas Skelton
Yahoo
01-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Author Liam McIlvanney longlisted for book prize named after his father
Author Liam McIlvanney is among those in the running for a crime writing prize named after his father, along with Sir Ian Rankin, Denise Mina and others. Lin Anderson and Alan Parks are also on the 13-strong longlist for the 2025 McIlvanney Prize which was unveiled by the Bloody Scotland festival on Tuesday. The writing duo Ambrose Parry, consisting of Chris Brookmyre and Marisa Haetzman, also makes the longlist. The accolade recognises excellence in Scottish crime writing and is named in memory of William McIlvanney, often described as the godfather of tartan noir. The list features five authors who organisers say got their first big break when they were shortlisted for the Bloody Scotland Debut Prize. Callum McSorley was shortlisted for the debut prize in 2023 when he went on to win the main McIlvanney prize, while Tariq Ashkanani and Allan Gaw have both won the debut prize – in 2022 and 2024 respectively. Heather Critchlow and Daniel Aubrey have both previously been shortlisted for the debut prize. Festival director Bob McDevitt said: 'Supporting new writers is at the heart of Bloody Scotland and it is great to see so many authors graduating from the debut shortlist to the main prize and slugging it out with more established names. 'I'm glad I don't have to pick a winner from this excellent crop of crime novels.' The winner of the prize will be announced on the opening night of the Bloody Scotland International Crime Writing Festival in Stirling on September 12. The longlist was chosen by a panel of booksellers, librarians, broadcasters and bloggers. DV Bishop, who originally won Pitch Perfect at Bloody Scotland in 2018, is one of only two authors who appears on the longlist for the second year in a row. Douglas Skelton, who has now been longlisted for the prize six times, also appeared on the longlist last year. – Works and authors named on the longlist Whispers of the Dead by Lin Anderson The Midnight King by Tariq Ashkanani The Dying Light by Daniel Aubrey Carnival of Lies by DV Bishop Unsound by Heather Critchlow The Moon's More Feeble Fire by Allan Gaw The Good Father by Liam McIlvanney Paperboy by Callum McSorley The Good Liar by Denise Mina Gunner by Alan Parks Death of Shame by Ambrose Parry Midnight and Blue by Sir Ian Rankin A Thief's Blood by Douglas Skelton
