Church that inspired Sunset Song up for sale 5 November 2025

 

  Church that inspired Sunset Song up for sale

                                                          

                                                                       Parts of Arbuthnott Church date back to the late 1200s

A historic church that played a central role in one of Scotland's most-loved novels, Sunset Song, has been put up for sale.

Arbuthnott Church in Kincardineshire was the inspiration for the setting of the 1930s novel, and the remains of its author Lewis Grassic Gibbon are buried in its graveyard.

The Church of Scotland has said it needs a significant reduction in the properties it owns.

A community group had hoped it might be possible to take over the building but the A-listed church is now officially up for sale, with offers over £45,000 being sought.

                               Lewis Grassic Gibbon, real name James Leslie Mitchell, based the fictional estate of Kinraddie on Arbuthnott

Sunset Song was written in 1932 by Grassic Gibbon, the pen name of James Leslie Mitchell.

It was the first book in the trilogy - A Scots Quair - telling the story of Chris Guthrie, a young woman who lives and works on her family farm in the Mearns, the farming areas south of Aberdeen.

The novel is set on the fictional estate of Kinraddie which Grassic Gibbon based on Arbuthnott, where he lived as a child and where his ashes were buried after his death at the age of 33 in 1935.

The story told by the trilogy begins just before World War One and follows Chris from the countryside of her childhood to city life, touching on class, war, religion and female emancipation.

                                                                    The church's stained glass windows feature in Sunset Song

The oldest section of the Arbuthnott church building dates back to the late 1200s.

The Arbuthnott Community Development Group had looked at raising money or applying for funds to take over the church.

The Church of Scotland said it had been "supportive" of a community sale.

"The group was given time to acquire the property but ultimately they were not able to do so after a feasibility study concluded that it would be difficult to purchase and maintain the building," a statement said.

"As a result, it pulled out, and Arbuthnott Church has been remitted to our solicitors to begin the process for an open market sale."

The Church of Scotland added: "The Kirk Session remains committed to providing worship in Arbuthnott, even after the church building is sold, and the hope is that the church will be available for special services, such a Watch Night and Harvest."

The author is remembered in the church graveyard

The sale schedule states: "The A-listed building could be used, without the necessity of obtaining change of use consent, as a crèche, day nursery, day centre, educational establishment, museum, art gallery or public library.

"It also has potential for a variety of other uses, such as a theatre, cinema or entertainment venue, retail space or community resource subject to obtaining appropriate consents."

The graveyard is owned and maintained by the council.

In 1971, a six-episode television adaptation of the novel was the first colour drama made by BBC Scotland and was greeted with huge acclaim.

It was credited with reigniting interest in Grassic Gibbon, and Sunset Song was put on the Higher English syllabus.

In 2016, it was voted Scotland's favourite book in a BBC poll, ahead of the Wasp Factory by Iain Banks and Lanark by Alasdair Gray.

In an introduction to the novel, published in 2020, the then-First Minister Nicola Sturgeon wrote of her love for the book, which she said was her favourite novel.

Booker Prize launches new award for children's fiction including young judges 24 October 2025

 Booker Prize launches new award for children's fiction including young judges 24 October 2025

        

The prestigious Booker Prize organisers have launched a new prize for children's fiction, featuring a panel of child and adult judges.

The Children's Booker Prize, which will launch in 2026 and be awarded annually from 2027, will celebrate the best contemporary fiction for children between the ages of eight and 12.

UK Children's Laureate Frank Cottrell-Boyce, whose books include the hugely popular Millions, published in 2004, will be the inaugural chair of judges for 2027.

He said: "I am absolutely buzzing about the news that I'm going to be chairing the judging panel. It's going to be - as they say - absolute scenes in there. Let the yelling commence."

                                       Children's Laureate Frank Cottrell-Boyce says the prize will "make a big difference"

Cottrell-Boyce and two other adult judges will select a shortlist of eight books, with three children then joining to help choose the winning book.

Gaby Wood, chief executive of the Booker Prize Foundation, said: "The Children's Booker Prize is the most ambitious endeavour we've embarked on in 20 years – and we hope its impact will resonate for decades to come."

At least 30,000 copies of the shortlisted and winning books will be gifted to children.

Wood said the award aimed to "champion future classics" and was also designed "to inspire more young people to read".

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Friday, children's author and screenwriter Cottrell-Boyce said he thinks it "is going to make a big difference".

"This prize will make books more available for a lot of kids," he said, adding it was also "going to really ignite a conversation".

                                                                   Dame Jacqueline Wilson called the prize "a marvellous idea"

Other authors and previous Children's Laureates who have welcomed the announcement included Dame Jacqueline Wilson, who said it was "a marvellous idea".

Fellow children's author Anne Fine said: "When it comes to book prizes, we all say, The More The Merrier [in a nod to her book of the same name], and especially when it comes to writing for children, which has all too often been the overlooked Cinderella of the book world."

As with the Booker Prize and International Booker Prize, the shortlisted authors will each receive £2,500 and the winning author £50,000.

The prize will accept submissions from publishers in spring 2026, when the remaining two adult judges will be announced.

The shortlist of eight books – and the three child judges – will be revealed in November next year, while the winner will be announced at an event for young readers in February 2027.

The prize will be open to global authors for books written originally in English and for those translated into English, as long as they are published in the UK or Ireland between 1 November 2025 and 31 October 2026.

News of the prize is being announced at a time when children's reading for pleasure is reportedly at its lowest in 20 years, according  to the National Literary Trust, which has announced the National Year of Reading 2026 in an effort to change the nation's reading habits.

Flashlight to Katabasis: 18 of the best books of the year so far 25 September 2025

                              Flashlight to Katabasis: 18 of the best books of the year so far

 

From an "epic" coming-of-age story to "delicious" dark academia – this is the very best fiction of the 

year, as chosen by BBC journalists.

Helm by Sarah Hall

Hall is the author of novels including the Booker-nominated The Electric Michelangelo (2004) and 2021's Burntcoat, and creator of several short-story collections. Weather and landscape have often been her concerns, as they are here, in a deeply researched historical "cli-fi" that took Hall the best part of 20 years to finish. The central character (and title) of Helm is Britain's only named wind, which occurs in a particular part of Cumbria, where Hall grew up. She brings together strands that chart humankind's attempts to master the wind, from prehistoric times to the present day, where her protagonist is Dr Selima Satur, a climatologist whose research suddenly makes headlines. "Helm is as vital, fierce and free as the phenomenon it describes," writes the FT. The Guardian praises Hall's "virtuosic" writing, "a tough and supple poetry anchored in decades of attention to Cumbrian land and plants and skies." (RL)

Good and Evil and Other Stories by Samanta Schweblin

Each of the six stories in this collection by Argentinian author Samanta Schweblin features characters at pivotal moments that quickly shift to something deeply unsettling. A mother surfaces from a lake, having witnessed something awful; a young father is haunted by a moment of distraction that has had profound consequences; a lonely woman's compassionate act is met with a frightening home invasion. From the opening "bravura" story onwards, says The Guardian, Schweblin "looks at the world directly, piercing its deceptive surface, allowing the reader to do the same". The author's "directness and clarity of language opens a unique emotional terrain where fear and compassion conjoin". Good and Evil and Other Stories is, says Service95, a "a strange and unnerving collection of short stories", and "the 'horror' here is subtle, psychological and deeply personal". The stories "linger like a strange aftertaste, forcing anyone who reads to confront ambiguity, dread and the raw complexity of being human". (LB)

Flashlight by Susan Choi

Ten-year-old Louisa is found on a beach in Japan, her father missing and presumed drowned, and from there the story unfolds across generations and continents, exploring Louisa's family background that spans North Korea and the US. Shortlisted for the Booker Prize, Susan Choi's sixth novel shifts genres from satire to drama, and from coming-of-age novel to international thriller. "Intricate, surprising and profound" is how it is described by the Booker judges. "It is a riveting exploration of identity, hidden truths, race, and national belonging" that "deftly cross-crosses continents and decades". The author, they conclude, "balances historical tensions and intimate dramas with remarkable elegance". Choi's characterisation is "patient and sure-handed", says the Times Literary Supplement. Flashlight is "epic" and "elegiac". (LB)

Organisers cancel book prize over trans controversy 19 August 2025

Organisers cancel book prize over trans controversy

                            John Boyne wrote in support of Harry Potter author JK Rowling in a newspaper article last month

Organisers have cancelled an annual literary prize created to promote LGBTQ+ writing, following a row about comments by one of the nominated authors.

John Boyne, best known for writing The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, was longlisted for the Polari Prize earlier this month for his latest novel Earth.

However, some other nominated authors asked to be removed from the longlist, objecting to an article Boyne wrote defending JK Rowling's stance on trans issues and women's rights. More than 800 figures in the publishing industry also signed an open letter criticising his nomination.

The Polari Prize's organisers have now said it would not be awarded this year but they hoped it would return in 2026.

In a statement published before the prize was scrapped, Boyne said his "views on trans rights have never changed" and he had faced "endless harassment at the hands of both strangers and fellow writers".

 

'Books are for everyone': Inside Penguin's hidden archive 30 July 2025

'Books are for everyone': Inside Penguin's 

hidden archive

                                            Penguin's archive charts the publisher's 90-year history and holds some even older items

Deep within the warehouse capital of the country lies a literature lover's treasure trove.

Hidden from view, among the "mega-sheds" and supply chain businesses of Northamptonshire, there is no hint of the historical wonders inside.

But this non-descript warehouse on the outskirts of Rushden is home to the Penguin Random House UK Library and Archive.

It features 1.5 million books by some of the biggest names in literature, including Agatha Christie, Ernest Hemingway, Roald Dahl and Jilly Cooper, as well as many other documents relating to the world-famous publisher, now celebrating its 90th birthday.

Senior library and archive assistant Nicki Carter has worked at the archive for seven years

"It's pretty overwhelming. I love it, though," says Nicki Carter, senior library and archive assistant, who joined the collection seven years ago.

"I've always been an avid reader. I moved to this area in my early teens and I'd always driven past this building and wondered what was inside".

Her dream to work in publishing came true years later when she left university and decided to check the publisher's website.

"There happened to be a job going and considering there are only five roles here, it was very fortuitous timing," she says. Her favourite part of the archive? It's the Terry Pratchett collection, devoted to the work of the bestselling author of the Discworld series.

"I love Terry Pratchett," she says.

"We've got the original cover designs. And then we have the more modern ones where we've come out with these beautiful clothbound classics.

"So, if you're a fan, this is the place to be; this is the place to spend your time."