Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction

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Presented by Abbotsford, the home of great historical fiction, the Walter Scott Prize stands as one of the top accolades in the literary world. Join us for an unforgettable celebration of fiction set in the past as we welcome the five shortlisted authors vying for this year's £25,000 prize and see the winner announced live by the Duke of Buccleuch and Matthew Maxwell Scott, Sir Walter’s direct descendant. With only five authors on this year's shortlist, you’ll have plenty of time to meet:

Jo Harkin, whose novel The Pretender is heralded as "a bold and brilliant comedy of royal intrigue"; Alice Jolly, author of The Matchbox Girl, a novel that has drawn comparisons to The Bell Jar and Beloved; Graeme Macrae Burnet, whose gripping narrative Benbecula relates a terrible real event on a remote Hebridean island;
Rachel Seiffert, whose powerful novel Once the Deed is Done explores the lives of displaced persons in the aftermath of the Second World War and Benjamin Wood, whose Booker long-listed work Seascraper chronicles the life of a shanker earning a living from the sea.