Scottish Book Trust is a national charity based in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

promoting literature, reading and writing in Scotland. Scottish Book Trust works with and for a range of audiences, including babies and parents (through the Bookbug programme), children and young people, teachers and learning professionals, and writers and publishers.

Key facts

Scottish Book Trust invests £3 million annually to fund and promote reading and writing in Scotland. It uses this budget to gift over 1 million books to the public and fund over 1,200 literature events in order to connect Scottish readers and writers. Scottish Book Trust reaches many young children in Scotland through its Bookbug book gifting programme. It supports over 400

Scottish writers This list of Scottish writers is an incomplete alphabetical list of Scottish writers who have a Wikipedia page. Those on the list were born and/or brought up in Scotland. They include writers of all genres, writing in English, Lowland Scots, Scot ...

and illustrators and runs two children's book awards, in which the winners are chosen by Scottish schoolchildren. It also develops resources to help teachers and librarians inspire students and improve literacy. The Trust's three websites promote reading and writing to around 50,000 online visitors a month.

Programmes

Early years programme

Previously known as Bookstart in Scotland, Bookbug gives free books to all Scottish children at around: *8 weeks – Bookbug Baby bag *18 months – Bookbug Toddler bag *3 years – Bookbug Explorer bag *P1 – Bookbug P1 Family bag The bags are given with guidance materials for parents and careers, including advice on sharing books with young children, information about libraries, and materials to boost a child’s language, listening skills and early writing. Bookbug also offers free song-and-rhyme sessions for babies and toddlers in libraries and community centres throughout the country.

Children and young people programme

Scottish Book Trust's children's programme aims to get children and young people excited about reading and writing. It reaches over 45,000 children across Scotland every year through live book events and reading and writing campaigns, which include: *The Bookbug Picture Book Prize and the Scottish Teenage Book Prize, in which children and teens throughout Scotland vote for their favourite book from a shortlist. *National events, including the Scottish Friendly Children's Book Tour, an outreach tour which brings authors to schools in Scotland and in England. *The First Minister's Reading Challenge, which 'encourages children to read widely, explore a range of books and develop a love of reading.' Prizes for the challenge are awarded annually in categories that include School Reading Journey, School-Community Reading Partnership and Personal Reading Journey. *Authors Live, which is presented with BBC Learning Scotland. Authors Live is a series of live streamed events with authors which are also available on demand *What's Your Story? A programme that gives free creative writing support to all 13–19-year-old writers and illustrators in Scotland. WYS publishes three issues of an online magazine every year, featuring the work of teen writers, and also runs Storycon, an annual creative writing and illustration conference designed by teens for teens.

Writer development programme

The Writer Development programme offers a range of professional development opportunities for writers at all stages of their careers. Past mentors have included novelists

Bernard MacLaverty Bernard MacLaverty (born 14 September 1942) is an Irish fiction writer and novelist. His novels include ''Cal'' and ''Grace Notes''. He has written five books of short stories. Biography ''MacLaverty'' was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, a ...

Alan Bissett Alan Bissett (born 17 November 1975) is an author and playwright from Hallglen, an area of Falkirk in Scotland. After the publication of his first two novels, '' Boyracers'' and ''The Incredible Adam Spark'', he became known for his different t ...

and

Louise Welsh Louise Welsh (born 1 February 1965 in London) is an English-born author of short stories and psychological thrillers, resident in Glasgow, Scotland. She has also written three plays, an opera, edited volumes of prose and poetry, and contributed ...

, as well as industry professionals such agents and editors. Mentoring is also available for emerging authors, as part of the New Writers Awards. Previous Awardees includ
Gail Honeyman

Pippa Goldschmidt Pippa Goldschmidt is a British fiction writer, formerly based in Edinburgh, Scotland but now living in Germany. Education Goldschmidt has a background in science, having completed an undergraduate degree in physics with astronomy at the Univer ...

and

Graeme Macrae Burnet Graeme Macrae Burnet (born October 1967) is a Scottish writer, whose novels have won and been nominated for several awards. He has also written occasionally for ''The Guardian'', ''The Observer'' and ''Le Monde''. His first novel, ''The Disappea ...

Learning professionals

Scottish Book Trust works with teachers, librarians and literature development experts to create learning resources, projects and events which promote literacy through literature. It provides resources for teachers based around its programme. Every year, Scottish Book Trust also honours an outstanding Learning Professional through its Scottish Book Trust Awards.

Book Week Scotland

Book Week Scotland takes place every November. The week features hundreds of free events with authors across the country, as well as an associated writing project which the public can participate in.

References

{{Reflist Organisations based in Edinburgh Scottish literature Arts organisations based in Scotland Book publishing companies of Scotland