Douglas Stuart’s ‘Young Mungo’ Is on Scotland’s Highland Book Prize Longlist

In News by Porter Anderson

The Booker Prize winner for ‘Shuggie Bain,’ Douglas Stuart, is on the new Highland Book Prize longlist of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry.

By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson

A Longlist Selected With Input from 100+ People
You may recall that Scotland’s Highland Book Prize, or Duais Leabhair na Gàidhealtachd, is one of the programs that designates its award cycles by the previous year. The 2021 winner, for example, Jen Hadfield, was named in June 2022. So it is that today’s announcement of a longlist is for the 2022 cycle, although the shortlist will be released in April and the winner will be named in May.

A co-presentation of the Highland Society of London and Moniack Mhor—the  Highland Book Prize honor fiction, nonfiction, and poetry that “recognizes the rich talent, landscape, and cultural diversity of the Highlands.”

The longlist of 12 titles is drawn from an initial pool of 81 submissions and includes works of nonfiction, fiction, and poetry. Submissions were also welcomed from authors either born or brought up in the Highlands, as well as those who have made the region their home. The process of the longlist’s selection involved more than 100 readers in many parts of the world, a large corps of volunteers who ensure that each entry is reviewed and scored more than once.

Our readers will note that the Scottish-born author Douglas Stuart is on the longlist, following his 2020 Booker-winning Shuggie Bain with Young Mungo, released in April from Pan Mac/Picador in the United Kingdom and Grove Press in the States.

The 2022 Highland Book Prize Longlist

The longlist comprises six works of nonfiction, three works of fiction, and three of poetry.

Author Title Publisher, Imprint Category
Amanda Thompson Belonging: Natural Histories of Place, Identity, and Home Canongate Nonfiction
Ali Smith Companion Piece Penguin Random House / Hamish Hamilton Fiction
Tony Davidson Confessions of a Highland Art Dealer Woodwose Books Nonfiction
Duncan Gillies Crann-Fìge / Fig Tree: Short Stories Acair Fiction
Jennifer Morag Henderson Daughters of the North: Jean Gordon and Mary Queen of Scots Sandstone Press Nonfiction
Murdo Macfarlane, edited by Catriona Murray Doras Gun Chlàimhean Acair Poetry
Jenna Watt Hindsight: In Search of Lost Wilderness Birlinn Nonfiction
Lydia Harris Objects for Private Devotion Pindrop Press Poetry
Jim Crumley Seasons of Storm and Wonder Saraband Nonfiction
Sharon Black The Last Woman Born on the Island Vagabond Voices Poetry
Cynthia Rogerson WAH! Things I Never Told My Mother Sandstone Press Nonfiction
Douglas Stuart Young Mungo Pan Macmillan / Picador Fiction

The longlist now goes to the Highland Prize jury for its rendering of a shortlist and winner.

This year, Alex Ogilvie retains his seat as chair. He’s joined by:

  • Kapka Kassabova, poet and writer of fiction and narrative nonfiction, whose book Border (Granta) won the 2017 Highland Book Prize
  • Mark Wringe, senior lecturer in Gaelic language and culture at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, University of the Highlands and Islands
  • Peter Mackay, poet, lecturer, and broadcaster, whose 2020 collection, Nàdur De (Some Kind of) was longlisted for the 2020 Highland Book Prize, and who was recently named Bard of An Comunn Gàidhealach at the 2022 National Mod

Rachel Humphries

In a prepared statement on today’s longlist announcement, Moniack Mhor Center director Rachel Humphries is quoted, saying, “The spread of genres represented is diverse and exciting.

“Its good to see the area as something more than a source of inspiration. It demonstrates the breadth of highquality work published by leading UK publishing houses alongside independent presses. The list includes authors who have achieved real literary success as well as new voices. 

“The prize, in its fifth year, places the Highlands as geographically, culturally, and artistically important to the UK’s wider literature sector.”

This is Publishing Perspectives’ 211th awards-related report produced in the 225 publication days since our 2022 operations began on January 3.

The Paps of Jura in the Inner Hebrides, December 12. Image – Getty iStockphoto: Amelia Smith


See also:
The $35,000 Aspen Words Literary Prize Names Its 2023 Longlist
In England, the Booker Prize for Fiction Names Its 2023 Jurors
Chris Miller’s ‘Chip War’ Wins the 2022 FT Business Book of the Year Award

More from us on publishing and book awards in international markets is here, more on Scotland is here, and more on the UK market is here.

About the Author

Porter Anderson

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Porter Anderson is a non-resident fellow of Trends Research & Advisory, and he has been named International Trade Press Journalist of the Year in London Book Fair's International Excellence Awards. He is Editor-in-Chief of Publishing Perspectives. He formerly was Associate Editor for The FutureBook at London's The Bookseller. Anderson was for more than a decade a senior producer and anchor with CNN.com, CNN International, and CNN USA. As an arts critic (Fellow, National Critics Institute), he was with The Village Voice, the Dallas Times Herald, and the Tampa Tribune, now the Tampa Bay Times. He co-founded The Hot Sheet, a newsletter for authors, which now is owned and operated by Jane Friedman.