Published: 29 Jul 2016
Scottish authors Graeme Macrae Burnet and A L Kennedy have been longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2016.
Graeme Macrae Burnet was nominated for his novel His Bloody Project, a psychological thriller set in North-West Scotland, published by Contraband, the crime imprint of Glasgow-based publisher Saraband.
His Bloody Project is the story of a savage triple-murder in a remote crofting community in the 19th century. The question is not who did it – 17-year-old Roderick Macrae freely admitted to the killings – but why did he do it?
Meanwhile A L Kennedy received a nomination for her eighth novel Serious Sweet, which follows two decent, damaged people trying to make moral choices in an immoral world: ready to sacrifice what’s left of themselves for honesty, and for a chance at tenderness.
Graeme Macrae Burnet said: “I have been overwhelmed by the response to the novel and I am absolutely thrilled to make the longlist. When you see the other names on the list it is humbling to be among them and when you see the names not on the list it makes it all the more surreal. I would like to thank Sara Hunt and the team at Saraband/Contraband who have made this possible. They are a small publisher producing great books, they also deserve the recognition.”
Jenny Niven, Head of Literature, Languages and Publishing at Creative Scotland said: “We are absolutely delighted both for Graeme and for Saraband, and of course for Alison. The Booker is the holy grail of book prizes and a longlisting for the prize is the stuff of which dreams are made. All credit is of course due to Graeme but Creative Scotland is delighted to bask in his reflected glory this week. By supporting Graeme via a New Writers Award from Scottish Book Trust, by supporting Saraband in helping establish Contraband as an imprint of Saraband and by enabling the translation of His Bloody Project into German (forthcoming in 2017) we’ve also played a role in helping this terrific book both come to fruition and reach an audience and we couldn’t be more proud. We look forward to seeing both Graeme and Alison on the shortlist in due course!”
Graeme Macrae Burnet received a New Writers Award from the Scottish Book Trust in 2013, the awards aim to support individuals committed to developing their writing.
Caitrin Armstrong, Head of Writer Development at Scottish Book Trust: “We are over the moon to see one of our former New Writers Awardees Graeme’s on the Man Booker longlist, and delighted for his publisher Saraband. Huge congratulations all round!”
The other 11 writers to make the longlist are J M Coetzee, Deborah Levy, David Szalay, Virginia Reeves, David Means, Ian McGuire, Madeleine Thien, Ottessa Moshfegh, Elizabeth Strout, Wyl Menmuir and Paul Beatty.
The shortlist for the Man Booker Prize will be announced on September 13, with the winner to be announced on October 25.
