'Prejudice' claim from Scottish authors

02.04.14 | Sarah Shaffi - The Bookseller

London publishers are turning down work they consider “too Scottish”, the chair of the Society of Authors (SoA) in Scotland, Lin Anderson, has told The Bookseller.
But publishers have defended their record, saying that Scottish writers have done “disproportionately well” in recent years.

The issue was raised when Adrian Searle, publisher at Glasgow-based independent Freight Books, told The Herald newspaper this week that writers were having their work “rejected by London publishers because it’s Scottish in theme or content”.
Searle told the newspaper that there had been "a gap in terms of real commitment to publishing Scottish fiction", adding: "I'm not a political nationalist by nature. I'm a lifelong Labour voter. But I will be voting Yes in September [in the referendum on Scottish independence].
"Amongst other things, it's become very apparent that Scotland is a colonised culture and the dominant culture is the English literary heritage. Pride and Prejudice is being re-run on Radio 4 this week... Again. It's a brilliant novel, but there's so much more out there...
"I've seen it again and again over the last three years. Writers having their work rejected by London publishers because it's Scottish in theme or content, which isn't the London publishers' fault. There is just less of a market."

Anderson said that she had been told by authors at a recent SoA meeting that “’too Scottish’ was the most usual phrase used by publishers”.
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