The Saltire Society announced winners of 2022 Scotland's National Book Awards, with David Alston receiving the Book of the Year Award for Slaves and Highlanders: Silenced Histories of Scotland and the Caribbean. Alexander McCall Smith was given the Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to Scottish literature.
The judges described Alston's work, which also won the history category, as the "best book to date on Scottish involvement in chattel slavery and the impact of the gains from this on Highland Scotland. From his local, Cromarty, base the author engages forcefully with major historiographical debates relating to Scottish participation in the slave economy and challenges presentations of this in tourist literature and major heritage institutions. An informative book based solidly in research but immensely accessible."
This year's category winners also included Blood & Gold: A Journey of Shadows by Mara Menzies (fiction), Homelands: The History of a Friendship by Chitra Ramaswamy (nonfiction), IN by Will McPhail (first book), How to Burn a Woman by Claire Askew (poetry), and more.
Publisher of the year honors went to 404Ink, described by the judges as "brave and honest publishers, working to ensure under-represented writers and works are published."
Literary category winners each receive £2,000 (about $2,430) and book of the year gets an additional £4,000 (about $4,860).