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19 Nov 2025
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19 Nov 2025
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Author Kate Atkinson has said it is a “tremendous honour” to be presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Saltire Society.
The winners of this year’s Saltires: Scotland’s National Book Awards – one of the UK’s oldest literary prizes – were also announced at the ceremony in Edinburgh on Wednesday.
Scotland’s Fiction Book of the Year went to Sean Lusk’s A Woman Of Opinion, while Sarah Moss was awarded Scotland’s Non-Fiction Book of the Year prize for My Good Bright Wolf.
Kate Atkinson was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award by fellow writer Sir Ian Rankin.
She said: “Receiving the Saltire Lifetime Achievement Award is a tremendous honour, and I am so thankful to the judges for this recognition.
“It’s a pleasure to be recognised alongside so many gifted writers.”
Atkinson has written 13 novels, including Life After Life, A God in Ruins and Case Histories, which is part of her series featuring former detective Jackson Brodie.
She has also published collections of short stories and plays.
Atkinson became an MBE in the 2011 Queen’s Birthday Honours List, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Mairi Kidd, director of the Saltire Society, said: “We were absolutely delighted to present Kate Atkinson with this award.
“Through her global readership, Kate is a superb ambassador for Scotland. Her large casts of characters, intricate plots and deft handling of big themes speak to readers everywhere; the very special blend of literary and genre fiction she deploys sites her firmly within Scotland’s modern canon.
“We awarded Book of the Year to Case Histories in 2005, and cheered when Jackson Brodie’s television outing relocated him north of the border.
“We were especially delighted that Sir Ian Rankin joined us at the ceremony to present Kate with her award; it was moving to see two key figures in the community of novelists shaping the identity of modern Scotland stand together on the stage.”
Scotland’s Books of the Year were announced in the Fiction, Non-Fiction, Poetry and Research categories on Wednesday.
Fiction winner Sean Lusk’s novel A Woman Of Opinion fictionalises the life of pioneering eighteenth-century poet and feminist, Mary Wortley Montagu.
The Non-Fiction Book of the Year My Good Bright Wolf by Sarah Moss is a memoir charting the writer’s journey after a recurrence of a teenage eating disorder in adulthood.
Scotland’s Poetry Book of the Year went to Anthony Vahni Capildeo for Polkadot Wounds while research Book of the Year went to Bruce Peter for Art Deco Scotland.
Mairi Kidd said: “Scotland’s Books of the Year 2025 showcase the exceptional literary talent of our small country today.
“The winning books are all very different, but there is a golden thread of connection running through them – the value of literature itself in troubled and troubling times.
“All of our writers show a clear preoccupation with the complex and urgent questions facing us today, and all show us how books and reading can offer clarity, understanding and connection to sustain us as we grapple with our challenges.
“Sarah Moss pays tribute to reading as a lifeline; Sean Lusk reminds us of those who have fought and won similar battles before; and Anthony Vahni Capildeo invites us to enter dialogue with the living and the dead through writing as well as physical connection.
“We congratulate all of the winners and debut winners, and hope new readers across the globe will find their way to these books through the Saltires.”
Scotland’s Fiction Debut of the Year went to Phantom Limb by Chris Kohler, which uses magical realism as it tells the story of a Scottish minister who stumbles upon a severed seventeenth-century hand with much to say.
The Debut Non-Fiction Book of the Year prize went to Foreign Fruit, the first full-length work by essayist, journalist and critic Katie Goh, while Scotland’s Poetry Debut of the Year went to Tim Craven’s collection Good Sons.
The winners of the Debut Books of the Year each receive a cash prize and a mentoring package co-designed with them.
Funding from Creative Scotland will also support a wider bursary and coaching programme attached to the awards.
The Saltires, Scotland’s National Book Awards, presented by the Saltire Society, honour the best Scottish books of the year across Fiction, Non-Fiction, Poetry and Research.
They are open to writers who originate from, or who are resident in, Scotland.
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