International

"As a Scottish writer who writes about contemporary Scottish life, and who is also published in America, the trip afforded me an excellent opportunity to be part of a united front in the attempt to focus American publishing and media attention on Scots culture. Usually one depends on the commercial instincts of our American publishers to do this, but for a Scottish body like the Scottish Book Trust to take a hand in it sends a wonderful, powerful, and to my mind long-lasting message to the artistic and commercial establishment in New York, that Scotland is proud of its cultural output and means business." Andrew O'Hagan

Over the past few years Scottish Book Trust has been commissioned by the Scottish Government to run festivals of Scottish writing in New York, Washington D.C. and Melbourne. These have been hugely successful, attracting sell-out audiences, and stimulating the interest and enthusiasm not just of the general public, but of publishers and agents too.

Scottish Book Trust has developed close working relationships with a variety of prestigious organisations abroad to deliver these high quality programmes, including The Smithsonian, The New York Public Library, Barnes & Noble, The Melbourne International Arts Festival, and the Australia Broadcasting Corporation.

Whether it has been Alexander McCall Smith enthralling an

audience of 1,500 at Washington's Lisner Auditorium, Kathleen Jamie and Don Paterson packing in 100 poetry lovers at the National Arts Club in New York, or Liz Lochhead and Michael Marra wowing a Melbourne audience of 350 with their cabaret show, the response has been overwhelming. Through a combination of events, and broadcasts on radio and internet, we have reached over 10 million people world wide.

The promotion of Scotland abroad through its most talented and creative people stimulates opportunity at every level. While enhancing Scotland's image abroad, our programmes act as a direct focus on the strength of Scottish writing for the literary communities of the respective countries. Notable results, related to our showcasing, have been the choice of Mark McNay's novel Fresh as part of the Barnes & Noble Debut Writers promotion; the publication of James Robertson's The Testament of Gideon Mack in the USA; and the invitation to Andrew O'Hagan to give the opening address of the Sydney Writer's Festival 2007.

In January 2008, we published a survey of Scottish writing for the Scottish Government's EU office in Brussels, tying in with a literary series we have helped to programme, and which includes Denise Mina, Christopher Brookmyre, Iain Banks and Louise Welsh.

More information and a pdf can be found here.