Kerry Hudson’s LOWBORN (Chatto & Windus, May 2019) has been shortlisted for the Saltire Non-Fiction Book of the Year Award. One of Scotland’s most prestigious book awards, the Saltire Literary Award is dedicated to promoting literature from and about Scotland. The winner of each of six categories will be considered for the Saltire Society Scottish Book of the Year Award, which is accompanied by a £6,000 cash prize, supported by Creative Scotland.
LOWBORN is a powerful exploration of poverty in today’s Britain. As a child, Kerry was always on the move with her single mother, attending nine primary schools and five secondaries, living in B&Bs and council flats. The poverty she grew up in was all-encompassing, grinding and often dehumanising. In LOWBORN, she revisits the towns she grew up in to discover what being poor really means in Britain today and whether anything has changed.
LOWBORN has also been shortlisted for the Books are My Bag Breakthrough Author Award 2019, and was longlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize 2019 and the Portico Prize 2019. It was chosen as a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week and Book of the Month in the Bookseller.
Her publisher Becky Hardie says: ‘Publishing LOWBORN has been such a proud experience for the whole of Vintage. Kerry has a powerful, important and often difficult story to tell, and she’s done so with superlative compassion and insight, both personal and political. We couldn’t be happier to see this hugely well-deserved shortlisting.’
LOWBORN will be published in paperback by Chatto & Windus in May 2020.
Praise for LOWBORN:
‘One of the most important books of the year’ —The Guardian
'Powerful and moving... An emotional and important read'— iNews
'Personal and captivating memoir from the prize-winning novelist’— The List
About the Author:
Kerry Hudson was born in Aberdeen. Growing up in a succession of council estates, B&Bs and caravan parks provided her with a keen eye for idiosyncratic behaviour, material for life, and a love of travel.
Her first novel, TONY HOGAN BOUGHT ME AN ICE-CREAM FLOAT BEFORE HE STOLE MY MA, was published by Chatto & Windus in July 2012. It was shortlisted for eight literary prizes, including the Guardian First Book Award and Green Carnation Prize, and won the Scottish First Book of the Year. Kerry's second novel, THIRST, was developed with support from the National Lottery through an Arts Council England grant, and published by Chatto & Windus in July 2014 before being shortlisted for the Green Carnation Prize and the European Strega Prize. It was also the winner of the prestigious French literary prize, Prix Femina Etranger 2015, going on to become a bestseller in France. It was also shortlisted for the European Strega prize in Italy.
Vote for Kerry in the Books are my Bag Breakthrough Author Award