McFall wins inaugural Scottish prize
Posted on Wednesday, March 1, 2017
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Borders-based author Claire McFall has won the inaugural Scottish Teenage Book Prize for her third novel, Black Cairn Point. The book was voted for by young people across Scotland.
Claire McFall beat Keith Gray's The Last Soldier and Joan Lennon's Silver Skin to win the prize, which has been set up to celebrate the most popular teen books by Scottish authors. Black Cairn Point, published by Hot Key Books, is a chilling and atmospheric thriller which explores what happens when an ancient malevolent spirit is reawakened. It is set in Dumfries and Galloway. Claire has recently signed a film contract for her first novel, Ferryman in China, which her debut novel has sold almost a million copies in China. The novel, a love story, retells the ancient Greek myth of Charon, the ferryman of Hades who transported souls to the underworld. The sequel to the Ferryman will be published in September. Claire said: "I'm over the moon that Black Cairn Point has been voted the winner of the first Scottish Teenage Book Prize. It's a brilliant award that encourages young people around Scotland to read books about and from their country and their culture. But it also encourages them to get involved by taking part in the competitions for readers that run alongside. Silver Skin and The Last Soldier are both terrific books, so to know that readers chose my novel is an enormous compliment. This is why I write." Claire is a writer and English teacher who lives in Clovenfords in the Scottish Borders. Aspiring young film makers were also asked to get involved with The Scottish Teenage Book Prize 2017 by creating their own book trailer for one of the shortlisted titles or entering a graphic novel to create a comic strip adaption of a scene from one of the books. St Joseph's Academy in Kilmarnock is the winner of the Book Trailer Competition. Their trailer will be featured on Scottish Book Trust website and they will receive a 250 Waterstones voucher to help top up their school library. The winners of the Graphic Novel Competition, who will each receive Waterstones vouchers, are: 1st place - Nicole Watt, Elgin Academy 2nd place - Jaden Green, Forfar Academy 3rd place - Morven Ross, Elgin Academy The winning entries will be featured on Scottish Book Trust website, with interviews with the pupils and teachers involved with the competition to follow on the website's blog in the coming weeks. The Scottish Teenage Book Prize is run by Scottish Book Trust with support from Creative Scotland. #ScotTeenBookPrize
