THE longlist for this year’s McIlvanney Prize has been announced by the Bloody Scotland International Crime Writing Festival.
Named for the legendary Scottish novelist William McIlvanney, who passed away in 2015, the award recognises the best Scottish crime novel of the year, coming with a £1000 prize and nationwide promotion of the winning novel at Waterstones.
This year’s nominees include previous winners such as Liam McIlvanney for The Heretic, Denise Mina for Rizzio, and Chris Brookmyre - who writes as one half of the nom de plume Ambrose Parry – for A Corruption of Blood.
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Also included are previous winners of Bloody Scotland’s Debut Prize Claire Askew, now nominated for A Matter of Time, and Deborah Masson with From the Ashes.
Commenting on the announcement, Bloody Scotland director Bob McDevitt said: "I’m so pleased to see such an excellent longlist of books in the running for this year’s McIlvanney Prize. Police procedurals dominate this year, set all around Scotland and from the 1970s to the present day, along with a few striking historical novels (set before the 1970s!) and some contemporary Glasgow noir. Once again, the judges have their work cut out for them."
Liam McIlvanney wrote on Twitter: “Deeply honoured to make it onto this longlist in the company of these superb books and amazing writers. Congrats to all”.
The prize will be judged by crime fiction critic and winner of the CWA Red Herring Award Ayo Onatade, presenter of BBC Radio Scotland’s Afternoon Show Janice Forsyth, and Waterstones crime fiction buyer Ewan Wilson, with finalists set to be announced at the beginning of September in Stirling and the winner revealed later that month.
2022 marks the 10th anniversary of Bloody Scotland, which will, along with the McIlvanney Prize, once again be sponsored by the Glencairn Glass company.
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