University of Aberdeen staff and graduates took home three of the twelve 2023 Saltire Literary Awards, widely known as Scotland's National Book Awards.
The Saltire Society presents these prizes each year ‘to highlight Scotland’s outstanding talent, raise the profile of writers and introduce audiences to exceptional new works’. This year Aberdeen can count wins in the PhD thesis, Emerging Publisher and Research Book of the Year categories.
The Ross Roy Medal, awarded for the best PhD thesis on Scottish literature, was presented to Dr Paula Sledzinska (RIISS and RGU) for her thesis ‘Stories That Need to be Told: Identity Discourse in the Repertoire of the National Theatre of Scotland’ (2023). The judges called it ‘impressively comprehensive, not only in scale and ambition, but also in achievement and clarity … with a finely tuned literary sensibility’. It explores how National Theatre of Scotland (NTS) productions help to shape ‘the narrative of Scotland’. It argues that the NTS challenges outdated grand narratives of the nation and embraces a ‘polyphony of voices,’ contributing to a discursive construction of Scotland as a country informed by the contemporary spirit of linguistic and cultural diversity, social justice and democratic engagement.
Commenting on the award, Dr Sledzinska said: “It is a great honour to receive the Ross Roy Medal. I am immensely grateful to my supervisor, Professor Shane Alcobia-Murphy, whose support was vital for the success of this thesis. I am also greatly thankful to all the academics at the LLMVC and RIISS who have been a source of scholarly expertise, advice and support over the years. I came to Aberdeen in 2006 to study English and Gaelic and I will always be obliged to both departments and their researchers for their profound insights into the powerful connection between language, culture and identity and their crucial role in the development and wellbeing of local, national and international communities.”
The Emerging Publisher of the Year prize was jointly won by University of Aberdeen alumna Grace Balfour-Harle, who graduated with an MA in English Literature and Legal Studies in 2017, in recognition of her outstanding work at Edinburgh University Press. The judges commented, ‘Grace’s breadth of experience, commitment to good practice, diversity and inclusion … make her a stand-out emerging publisher.’
The Research Book of the Year prize was won by Professor Ralph O’Connor (Schools of LLMVC and DHPA) and his coauthor Dr. Michael A. Taylor (National Museums Scotland) for their new edition of, and critical monograph about, Victorian bestseller The Old Red Sandstone, or New Walks in an Old Field. Written in 1841 by Ross-shire stonemason, folklore collector and geologist Hugh Miller, this book draws on his roots in Gaelic, Scots and English traditions to produce a compelling meditation on Scotland’s deep history.
Professor O’Connor said: “I’m enormously grateful to all the colleagues and students across numerous science and humanities disciplines at Aberdeen who provided Mike and me with feedback and advice during the 15 years of this project.”
Their monograph tracks the global reach of Miller’s book, which changed hearts and minds in diverse languages and cultures for over a century, including French, German, Gaelic and Welsh.
Professor O’Connor added: “We couldn’t have made sense of all this without my wonderful fellow-researchers in Modern Languages at Aberdeen. I honestly don’t think we’d have won the prize without their input.”
He and Dr. Sledzinska commented: “Our work has shown, time and again, is that it’s not possible to understand Scottish culture without taking full account of its Gaelic component and its international crosscurrents. This university’s position as a world leader in Scottish studies depends on researchers in Gaelic, and in languages generally, every bit as much as on English, history, philosophy and ethnology.”
At the awards ceremony Professor O’Connor and Dr Sledzinska urged the University to reconsider plans for modern languages, which include a significant restructuring of teaching and ending research submissions in modern languages in REF – the UK's system for assessing the excellence of research in UK higher education providers. These plans are currently in a consultation period.
The Saltire award ceremony, held in Glasgow on 7 December 2023, can be viewed here (at 35, 46 and 1 hour 40 minutes).