Burns biography wins book prize

A biography of Robert Burns has won the £10,000 book of the year prize at the 2009 Saltire Society Literary Awards.

Robert Crawford won the award for his book The Bard, against stiff competition from authors AL Kennedy and Janice Galloway.

Other awards went to a history of Scottish philosophy, a biography of John Muir and the Historical Thesaurus of the English dictionary.
The award ceremony was held in Edinburgh on Monday.

The awards were presented by Culture Minister Michael Russell, who said: "It is great to see the prestigious Saltire Society Literary Awards fully involved with the Homecoming Scotland Finale celebrations.

"The awards play a huge part in celebrating Scotland's literary heritage and the incredible strength of talent displayed by our contemporary writers.
"It is fitting that we applaud this talent on St Andrew's Day - our national day - particularly when this year's winning entries reflect the rich cultural, natural and intellectual heritage of this nation."

Martyn Wade, National Librarian, said: "It has been an honour to host these prestigious awards for the 12th time, recognising the wealth of literary talent Scotland has to offer."
The annual awards have been held for the past 27 years.

And for a January 2009 review of the winning title go to The Guardian.