Media Release 24 April 2008

The National Library of Scotland has announced the shortlist for the 2008 Callum Macdonald Memorial Award (CMMA) for poetry pamphlet publishing in Scotland. The short listed entries are:

• If Ah Could Talk Tae The Artists by Hugh Bryden, published in Dumfries by Roncadora Press.
• Treeds by Laureen Johnson, published in Edinburgh by Hansel Cooperative Press.
• One Light Burning by Donny O’Rourke, published in Glasgow by Bonny Day Books.
• The Currying Shop by Hazel Cameron, published in Yorkshire by Imago Media.
• The Oboist’s Bedside Book by Margaret Christie, published in Glenrothes by Happenstance .
• Edinburgh Poems by Duncan Glen, published in Kirkcaldy by Akros Publications

The winners will be announced at a ceremony to be held at the National Library of Scotland’s Causewayside building on Wednesday 7 May at 6pm, when all the entries will be on display.

The Callum Macdonald Memorial Award is given in recognition of publishing skill and effort in the field of poetry pamphlets. The award was created by the Library in memory of Scottish literary publisher Callum Macdonald, and is administered in association with Tessa Ransford, former Director of the Scottish Poetry Library and Callum Macdonald's widow. All Scottish publishers of poetry in pamphlet form are eligible to apply. The award is supported by the Michael Marks Charitable Trust.

The award also aims to encourage the preservation of printed material of this kind and all entries submitted are taken into the collections of the National Library of Scotland. As a result the Library currently holds nearly 250 of the finest contemporary Scottish poetry pamphlets in its collections. You can find out more about pamphlet poetry by logging on to www.scottish-pamphlet-poetry.com

ENDS
Journalists and photographers are welcome to attend the Award ceremony.

Contact details:
Bruce Blacklaw, PR & External Affairs Officer
T 0131 623 3762 (direct) 07766790939 (m) b.blacklaw@nls.uk

Notes to Editors:

About the National Library of Scotland

• The National Library of Scotland is a major European research library and is the world’s leading centre for the study of Scotland and the Scots - an information treasure trove for Scotland’s knowledge, history and culture.

• The Library’s collections are of world-class importance. Key areas include rare books, manuscripts, maps, music, official publications, business information, science and technology, and the modern and foreign collections.

• The Library holds well over 13 million items, including printed items, approximately 100,000 manuscripts and nearly 2 million maps. Every week it collects approximately 6,000 new items via Legal Deposit.

• NLS holds many of Scotland’s literary treasures including the last letter of Mary Queen of Scots, written six hours before her execution; the Order for the Massacre of Glencoe 1692; the world’s greatest collections of Sir Walter Scott and Thomas Carlyle manuscripts; works of Robert Burns; Robert Louis Stevenson papers; a Gutenberg bible (1455); the Murthly Hours (late 13th C); and modern collections of Scottish writers.

• See www.nls.uk for further information about the Library and its collections.

• For information on events being held at the Library please see www.nls.uk/news/events.html

About the Callum Macdonald Memorial Award

· www.scottish-pamphlet-poetry.com

· Callum Macdonald MBE, was a Scottish literary publisher who encouraged the practice of poetry pamphlet publishing in Scotland. Through his friendship with the poets Sydney Goodsir Smith, Robert Garioch and Hugh MacDiarmid he began printing poetry pamphlets. Callum Macdonald also published books of poetry in Scots, Gaelic and English through his company, Macdonald Printers and Publishers, which he founded in 1957.

· The judges for the 2008 Award were: Tessa Ransford, poet and editor (1988-98) of Lines Review; Maureen Sangster, poet and winner of the 2007 Award; Lesley Duncan, Poetry Editor, The Herald; and Tom Dalgleish, Chairman of the Trustees of Macdonald Printers.