Standout year for Capital on writers award programme

Four Edinburgh-based writers have been selected from hundreds of entries to take part in the Scottish Book Trust's latest mentorship programme.

- by Julie Douglas

Tutor Alice Rowena Wilson, poet Shasta Hanif Ali, primary teacher Amie Robertson and journalist Sukhada Tatke are among the nine recipients of this year’s Young Writers Award.

The Scottish Book Trust holds an annual yearlong writer development programme to support burgeoning writers in Scotland.

In addition to a £2500 cash prize, awardees receive invaluable mentorship from established writers and industry professionals.

Of the 212 awardees who have completed the programme since it began in 2009, 96 have published their work, and 210 books have been published worldwide.

Previous awardees include Graeme Macrae Burnet, whose 2015 novel His Bloody Project was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize.