14 November 2007

University authors shortlisted for award

Two University of Dundee authors have been shortlisted for the prestigious Saltire Society/National Library of Scotland Research Book of the Year award.

Professor Christopher Whatley, Head of the College of Arts and Social Sciences and Dr David Robb will battle it out to with five other shortlisted authors. The book which wins is said to have added to our knowledge and understanding of Scotland and the Scots.

Prof Whatley’s book, The Scots and the Union explodes the myth of betrayal that has informed 20th-century Scots' understanding of how the United Kingdom was created in 1707. 'Bought and sold for English gold' is exposed as an ill-founded prejudice in this illuminating study of previously overlooked source material.

Dr Robb’s book, Auld Campaigner, A Life of Alexander Scott is the first major biography of a hugely influential figure in the Scottish literary scene in the 20th century. Scott was one of the most prominent of Scotland’s poets, renowned for witty, passionate, vigorous poems in both Scots and English - poems embodying his high ideals of poetic craftsmanship and carrying forward MacDiarmid’s literary Renaissance into the Sixties. Furthermore, he was a leading academic who helped develop the modern study of Scottish Literature, and contributed greatly to many areas of Scottish cultural life in the post-war period.

The Saltire Society is the brainchild of a number of people who in the 1930s saw a need to interest the Scots themselves in their own rich culture - the arts, literature, music and also their country´s history and its environment.

The winning book will be announced on 30th November.

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Anna Day
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