Fantasy novelist Caighlan Smith wins 2018 Scottish Teenage Book Prize

A YOUNG Canadian writer has said she is “ecstatic” after her book Children of Icarus was named winner of the 2018 Scottish Teenage Book Prize.

Young readers from across the country voted for the book by Caighlan Smith, a 23-year-old fantasy novelist from Newfoundland, Canada.

Now in its second year, the Scottish Teenage Book Prize was set up to celebrate the most popular teenage books by authors in Scotland.

The prize is run by Scottish Book Trust, the national charity which aims to transform lives through reading and writing, and is supported by Creative Scotland.

The 23-year-old said: “I’m truly honoured, not to mention ecstatic, that Children of Icarus has won the 2018 Scottish Teenage Book Prize. It means so much to me, because it’s an award voted on by the readers themselves.

“I’ve always thought of stories as conversations between the readers and the writers, so to know that the readers enjoyed that conversation, that they responded to it – what more can a writer ask for?”

Ms Smith was a Saltire fellow and Alexander & Dixon scholar at the University of Glasgow, where she studied an MLitt in Fantasy.

Since being nominated for the Scottish Teenage Book Prize she has returned to her native Canada.

As part of her prize she will receive £3,000 while the other authors who were shortlisted, Danny Weston for The Haunting of Jessop Rise, and Elizabeth Laird for Welcome to Nowhere, will receive £500 each.

Lucy Eldridge, illustrator of Welcome to Nowhere, will also receive £200.

Marc Lambert, Scottish Book Trust CEO, said: “The Scottish Teenage Book Prize is voted for by young people all across the country, so it is wonderful that Caighlan Smith has been chosen as the winner for 2018, considering that she started her writing career as a teenager herself.

“Caighlan has an impressive backlist and Scottish Book Trust wishes her all the best on her future projects.”