Scottish Book Trust is a national charity based in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

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. The charity was established in 1998.

Budget

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 program. 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, Scots language, Lowl ...

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.

Programs

Early years program

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 centers throughout the country.

Children and young people program

Scottish Book Trust's children's program 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 favorite 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 program

The Writer Development programme offers a range of

professional development Professional development, also known as professional education, is learning that leads to or emphasizes education in a specific professional career field or builds practical job applicable skills emphasizing Praxis (process), praxis in addition t ...

opportunities for writers at all stages of their careers. Past mentors have included novelists

Bernard MacLaverty Bernard MacLaverty (born 14 September 1942) is a Northern 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 no. 73 Atlantic Avenue ...

, Alan Warner,

Andrew Crumey Andrew Crumey (born 1961) is a novelist and former literary editor of the Edinburgh newspaper ''Scotland on Sunday''. His works of literary fiction incorporate elements of speculative fiction, historical fiction, philosophical fiction and Menip ...

and literary agents Judy Moir and Kathryn Ross. Mentoring is also available for emerging authors, as part of the New Writers Awards. Previous Awardees includ
Gail Honeyman
Pippa Goldschmidt and Graeme Macrae Burnet.

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 program. Every year, Scottish Book Trust also honors 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 1998 establishments in Scotland Organizations established in 1998