Crime novel His Bloody Project put Scottish writing back in the spotlight

Thanks to the success of Graeme Macrae Burnet’s His Bloody Project, Scottish literature has returned to prominence lately. The historical novel about a teenage boy who commits a triple murder was a surprise nominee for the Man Booker Prize and an unexpected bestseller. Published by small Glasgow imprint Contraband, it is one of the most successful novels to come out of Scotland in years.

For a country that many like to associate with gritty fare such as Trainspotting and Rebus, where does its writing go from here? Besides various other crime writers, the big Scottish noises are mainly established figures such as John Burnside and Ali Smith. Little attention has been paid to emerging writers in their twenties and thirties.