Walter Scott Prize

We’re delighted to share our Longlist 2026 poster for the #WalterScottPrize. Check out the link to download the free poster!

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#BookPoster #BookArt #HistoricalFiction #BookCub #BookSky #BookTok

Speaking about The Matchbox Girl @bloomsburybooksuk.bsky.social with Rosie Goldsmith at The Austrian Cultural Form 7 pm on Tuesday 17 March. Book is about Dr Asperger and his colleagues (and the rise of fascism). Book is on @walterscottprize.bsky.social longlist.

www.acflondon.org/events/the-m...

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🎉 Huge congratulations to Alice Jolly (The Matchbox Girl) and Jo Harkin (The Pretender) on being longlisted for the 2026 Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction!

www.walterscottprize.co.uk/announcing-t...

Congratulations on making the long list @alicejolly.bsky.social! 👏

Very excited that 'The Matchbox Girl' @bloomsburybooksuk.bsky.social is on this list. Thanks @walterscottprize.bsky.social and many congratulations to all the other amazing novelists who have been longlisted.

Damian Barr on his novel The Two Roberts: 'Gay, Scottish, working class, it’s a full house – I’m in' (EXCLUSIVE) Barr returns with a fictional retelling of the lives of The Two Roberts – two gay artists turned celebrities that time forgot.

Gave a wee interview to Attitude: 'In some ways, this is quite an old-fashioned love story that we, as a community, deserve. I didn’t want to over-emphasise the tragedy - it's there, not only because of their flaws but because of the homophobia of the time.'
www.attitude.co.uk/culture/dami...

The Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction 2026 Longlist The longlist for the The Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction 2026 was announced yesterday. As a huge fan of historical fiction, this is always an exciting moment, seeing books I've loved appear on the list or discovering new titles. This year I've read eight of the twelve books on the list. One (The Artist) is in my TBR pile and the remaining three (

Announced yesterday, the twelve fantastic books on the longlist for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction 2026 @walterscottprize.bsky.social #WalterScottPrize #books #historicalfiction #booksky

Graphic showing front covers of five books shortlisted for the Winston Graham Historical Prize 2026

They say great minds think alike... Four of the shortlisted books for the Winston Graham Historical Prize are also on the longlist for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction announced earlier today #books #WinstonGrahamHistoricalPrize #WalterScottPrize #historicalfiction ⏳️📚 #booksky 💙📚

Congratulations on making the long list @tristankhughes.bsky.social! 👏

Absolutely delighted that my novel Boundary Waters has made the longlist for the @walterscottprize.bsky.social in Historical Fiction. I'm thrilled and honoured to see it in such amazing company! www.walterscottprize.co.uk/announcing-t...

Not sure what Walter Scott would make of Bobby and Robert or indeed me, but I’m thrilled the Two Roberts has been longlisted for his namesake prize. It’s a great list and past winners are among my saints, Hilary Mantel ❤️ Congrats all and thank you judges and readers.

NEWS: Graeme Macrae Burnet’s BENBECULA longlisted for the 2026 @walterscottprize.bsky.social for Historical Fiction!

Congratulations Graeme!

📚 🌑🌕🌑✨

Read more: blakefriedmann.co.uk/news/benbecu...

We are delighted to announce the longlist for the seventeenth #WalterScottPrize for #HistoricalFiction, run by The Abbotsford Trust.

Congratulations to all of the longlisted authors!

#longlist #booksky #histfic #sirwalterscott #booksky

www.walterscottprize.co.uk/announcing-t...

Allan Massie obituary: celebrated writer who defied fashion Perhaps the finest Scottish novelist of the postwar era, who won fame across Europe but who was less favoured by the literary establishment north of the border

We are saddened to hear of the death of former judge and shortlistee Allan Massie. He served on the judging panel in 2010 and in 2011, when he helped shape the criteria of the Prize. His own novel End Games in Bordeaux was shortlisted for the Prize in 2016.

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Since then, Rosi has continued to support the Prizes, firstly as a judge for the Young Walter Scott Prize, then joining the judging panel for the Walter Scott Prize in 2024.

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Continuing with the #2016 trend, we’re shining a spotlight on our very own Rosi Byard-Jones with another throwback.

www.walterscottprize.co.uk/first-ywsp-w...

#historicalfiction #histic #WalterScottPrize #fictionbooks #bookwormlife #bookishcommunity #bookclubs #booklist #literaryfiction #booksky

Soon, we’ll be looking forward to announcing our longlist for the Walter Scott Prize...Watch this space.

We also celebrated a show stopping shortlist with:

SWEET CARESS by William Boyd
A PLACE CALLED WINTER by Patrick Gale
MRS ENGELS by Gavin McCrea
END GAMES IN BORDEAUX by Allan Massie
SALT CREEK by Lucy Treloar

When discussing his win with the Guardian in 2016, Simon said “I think our collective past should be important to everyone: if we don’t comprehend where we’ve come from, then we won’t have any idea where we are going.”

@theguardian.com

The late Simon Mawer won with the harrowing and gripping World War Two spy novel, TIGHTROPE.

As 2016 is trending, we thought we’d share a throwback post on some highlights from a decade ago.

#historicalfiction #booktok #histic #WalterScottPrize #bookrec #fictionbooks #bookwormlife #bookishcommunity #bookclubs #literary #booklist #literaryfiction #booksky

Historian reads the Walter Scott Prize shortlist Dr Kathryn White reviews the books who were shortlisted for - and won - the 2025 Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction

The Walter Scott Prize @walterscottprize.bsky.social celebrates the best of historical fiction. I read and review the 2025 shortlist in my latest Substack:

open.substack.com/pub/kathryns...

“I found that I couldn’t write a sentence of fiction with the name 'William Shakespeare' in it without getting really distracted." Shakespeare is named in the film HAMNET, but Maggie O'Farrel explains why she chose not to do so in the novel. Have you read it yet? https://loom.ly/oXYli3c #booksky

Maggie O’Farrell’s #HAMNET, shortlisted for the 2021 #WalterScottPrize, comes to screens next month. We begin our archive delve with O’Farrell telling the story behind the tragedy of the Shakespeares' son, starting with an insight into their marriage. See the full interview
https://loom.ly/oXYli3c

The screen adaptation of #HAMNET, from our 2021 shortlist, is coming to the UK in January. Over Christmas, we’ll be sharing some not-to-be-missed interviews with Maggie O'Farrell from our very own #walterscottprize archive. Watch this space for details, coming soon.

Author Yael van der Wouden on the history behind THE SAFEKEEP (Viking), a history that, for the most part, was discussed only within small Jewish communities in the Netherlands. We’re profiling our entire 2025 #WalterScottPrize list this season. Have you read them all? #booksky

Yael van der Wouden describes her #WalterScottPrize shortlisted THE SAFEKEEP (Viking). The novel, which also won the 2025 @womensprize.bsky.social, features exquisite writing and an unforgettably prickly heroine. Have you read it? #booksky

“Lots of big, social questions are just starting to be seriously thought about...things are going to change very radically.” Andrew Miller on the history that inspired his #WalterScottPrize winning novel THE LAND IN WINTER (@sceptrebooks.bsky.social) #booksky

The Great Freeze of the winter 1962/3 is the setting for our superb #WalterScottPrize winner 2025, THE LAND IN WINTER by Andrew Miller (@sceptrebooks.bsky.social) Two couples are put to the test by isolation and the challenges set by the relentless cold. #booksky