“The task of the writer is to take the past out of the archive and relocate it in a body.”
Hilary Mantel, Reith Lecture 2017
THE WALTER SCOTT PRIZE
I've loved historical fiction all my life. When I was a child, Geoffrey Trease was my favourite author. The Crown of Violet plunged me into the luminous light of ancient Athens, with all its political skulduggery. Cue for Treason swept me into the theatrical world of Tudor England. I thrilled to the stories of courage and comradeship in the Roman novels of Rosemary Sutcliffe.
It was a great honour and a particular delight to me to be invited to join the judging panel when the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction was established by the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch in 2009, and I've remained a judge ever since.
The prize has its base at Abbotsford in the Scottish Borders, the romantic home of Sir Walter Scott, whose legacy the prize celebrates. It's awarded every year in June at the Borders Book Festival in Melrose. But although its roots are in Scotland, the prize has a world-wide reach, being open to books first published in the previous year in the UK, Ireland or the Commonwealth. Every year, a rich and fascinating mix of stories from many parts of the world is set before the judges. It's never easy to choose between them.
To find out more, go to http://www.walterscottprize.co.uk
Here’s this year’s exciting longlist. Watch out for the announcement of the shortlist coming soon!
THE YOUNG WALTER SCOTT PRIZE
The Young Walter Scott Prize was the inspiration of the late Duchess of Buccleuch. Founded in 2015, it offers a unique chance for young writers between the ages of 11 and 19 to show what they can do. Every year, hundreds of you are inspired to send in stories. I'm a judge of the Young Walter Scott Prize, too, and I'm always amazed by the variety and the quality of the entries.
The winners receive a £500 travel grant, tickets to one of the UK's best book festivals and the chance to see their own work printed in a special anthology. Stories must be between 800 and 2,000 words, and set at a time before the writer was born.
If you're interested, take a look at our website www.walterscottprize.co.uk/young-walter-scott-prize. You can find out more about the rules on our How To Enter page.