The lifetime achievement prize for Edinburgh author Kate Atkinson dubbed 'superb ambassador for Scotland'

Ms Atkinson - best known for Life After Life and Case Histories - was presented with the prestigious Saltires Lifetime Achievement Award by Sir Ian Rankin at a ceremony in Edinburgh.

The ceremony also involved Scotland’s Books of the Year being announced in categories including fiction, non-fiction, poetry and research.

Sean Lusk’s A Woman of Opinion took Scotland’s fiction book of the year. Sarah Moss was awarded Scotland’s non-fiction book of the year for My Good Bright Wolf, and Scotland’s poetry book of the year went to Anthony Vahni Capildeo for Polkadot Wounds.

Meanwhile, research book of the year was awarded to Bruce Peter for Art Deco Scotland.

The lifetime achievement prize is open to nomination by people across Scotland working with books, from authors and editors to critics, programmers and librarians.

Ms Atkinson, who lives in Edinburgh, said: “Receiving the Saltire Lifetime Achievement Award is a tremendous honour, and I am so thankful to the judges for this recognition. It’s a pleasure to be recognised alongside so many gifted writers.”

Ms Atkinson is the author of 13 novels, as well as having published collections of short stories and plays. She was recognised for her Services to Literature in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2011 and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

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Her first novel, Behind the Scenes at the Museum, won the Whitbread (latterly Costa) Book of the Year Award.

Her 2013 novel, Life After Life, was made into a BBC TV series starring Thomasin McKenzie. It won the South Bank Sky Arts Literature Prize and the Costa Novel of the Year Award, was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, and was also voted Book of the Year by the independent booksellers associations on both sides of the Atlantic

Ms Atkinson follows in the footsteps of James Kelman, who received the lifetime award in 2024.

Saltire Society director Mairi Kidd said: “We were absolutely delighted to present Kate Atkinson with this award. Through her global readership, Kate is a superb ambassador for Scotland. Her large casts of characters, intricate plots and deft handling of big themes speak to readers everywhere; the very special blend of literary and genre fiction she deploys sites her firmly within Scotland’s modern canon.

“We awarded Book of the Year to Case Histories in 2005, and cheered when Jackson Brodie’s television outing relocated him north of the Border. We were especially delighted that Sir Ian Rankin joined us at the ceremony to present Kate with her award. It was moving to see two key figures in the community of novelists shaping the identity of modern Scotland stand together on the stage.”

Ms Kidd added: “Scotland’s Books of the Year 2025 showcase the exceptional literary talent of our small country today. The winning books are all very different, but there is a golden thread of connection running through them – the value of literature itself in troubled and troubling times.

“All of our writers show a clear preoccupation with the complex and urgent questions facing us today, and all show us how books and reading can offer clarity, understanding and connection to sustain us as we grapple with our challenges.

“We congratulate all of the winners and debut winners, and hope new readers across the globe will find their way to these books through the Saltires. An enriching, inspiring and sustaining experience awaits.”