Girl Meets Boy by Inverness-based Ali Smith and Wild Places by Robert MacFarlane, which features many of the highlands most remote landscapes, have made it to the shortlists for the Sundial Scottish Arts Council Book awards and could go on to win the ￡5000 category award or even the overall title of Sundial Scottish Arts Council Book of the Year 2008, an accolade which will net the author a total prize of ￡25,000; Scotland’s richest book award, and the fourth largest in the UK.

In addition, writer and comedian Rory Bremner has been confirmed as the host of this year’s Awards. He will be MC for the awards event, which this year takes place at the Borders Book Festival in Melrose on 20 June. Bremner will be presenting the awards for the category winners and announcing which of those four will receive the coveted title of Sundial Scottish Arts Council Book of the Year 2008.

Commenting on the awards Rory Bremner stated: ‘It's wonderful to see the Sundial Scottish Arts Council Book Awards being presented at the Borders Book Festival in Melrose, and I'm delighted to be asked to host the awards. It's a fantastic festival and Melrose is one of Scottish writing's spiritual homes.’

A total of seventeen titles have been shortlisted in the four categories – Fiction, Non- Fiction, Poetry, and First Book. This year ’s shortlists reflect an eclectic range of stylistic voices and subject-matter from an equally diverse assembly of contemporary Scottish writers.

The shortlists have been agreed by a distinguished judging panel comprised of writer and broadcaster Janice Galloway; Professor of Literature, literary critic and poet Rory Watson; Lilias Fraser, Reader Development Officer at the Scottish Poetry Library; and Dr Gavin Wallace, Scottish Arts Council Head of Literature, who chairs the panel in a non-voting capacity. The judges now have the difficult job of returning to these titles to decide on the category winners, who will each receive ￡5,000, and the chance to go on to win the overall book of the year award.

In a joint statement the judging panel stressed the difficulties of making the selection and celebrated the quality of the work shortlisted.

‘It was a privilege and a challenge in equal measure to conclude on these four category shortlists, confirming as they do the sheer profusion and vigour of contemporary Scottish writing across all genres. There was particular lustre, strength, and dynamism in the fiction and non-fiction categories, and a similar richness and range in poetry. Our first books this year boast confident and deeply challenging new voices. Taken together, all of these titles clearly reflect a culture of huge creative eclecticism and fearless innovation’ .

The shortlisted titles are:

Fiction
The Devil's Footprints by John Burnside (Jonathan Cape)
Old Men in Love by Alasdair Gray (Bloomsbury)
Day by AL Kennedy (Jonathan Cape)
Girl Meets Boy by Ali Smith (Canongate)

Non-fiction
Scotland's Books: The Penguin History of Scottish Literature by Robert
Crawford (Penguin)
The Wild Places by Robert Macfarlane (Granta)
Hamish Henderson: The Making of the Poet (1919-1953) by Timothy Neat
(Polygon)
A History of Modern Britain by Andrew Marr (Macmillan)
Auld Campaigner: A Life of Alexander Scott by David Robb (Dunedin
Academic Press)

Poetry
Gift Songs by John Burnside (Jonathan Cape)
Window for a Small Blue Child by Gerrie Fellows (Carcanet Press) A Book of Lives by Edwin Morgan (Carcanet Press) Greenfields by Richard Price (Carcanet Press) Bodywork by Dilys Rose (Luath Press)

First book
Morocco Rococo by Jane McKie (Cinnamon Press)
Shadow Behind the Sun by Remzije Sherifi (Sandstone Press)
The Brainstorm by Jenny Turner (Jonathan Cape)

The Awards, organised by the Scottish Arts Council since the 1970s, have gone from strength to strength, reflecting the growing prominence and prestige of Scottish literature. This is the second year that the awards have been generously sponsored by Sundial Properties, allowing for increased prize money for both the main winner and in the four new categories.

The Awards are sponsored by Sundial Properties, Scotland’s leading restoring developer, William Gray Muir, Managing Director of Sundial Properties said: “It is great to see the evidence of another vintage year for Scottish literature. The Borders Book Festival will be a marvellous place to see the work of all of the finalists celebrated. That said, I’m very relieved that the job of picking winners is entirely given over to the excellent judging panel!”