The six-strong shortlist has been unveiled for the annual Anne Brown Essay Prize for Scotland – which champions Scottish writing talent.

The competition, organised jointly by Wigtown Book Festival and The Herald, offers a £1,500 prize for the best literary essay by a writer in or from Scotland.

Essay prize judge, the Herald columnist and former BBC political editor Brian Taylor, said: “It is plain from the calibre of the entry that Scottish writing is in fine shape. As judges, we were impressed by the scope and diversity of the contributions.”

The finalists are:

Seeing Starlings - Chris Arthur

Chris is a Belfast-born essayist currently based in St Andrews. He’s author of several essay collections, most recently Hidden Cargoes (2022) and Hummingbirds Between the Pages (2018). Seeing Starlings blends observation of nature with his experiences in Northern Ireland.

Fashioning - Sasha de Buyl

Sasha is the programmer of the international Literature Festival Dublin. They previously directed the Cuirt Festival in Galway and the StAnza poetry festival in St Andrews. The shortlisted essay explores from a personal point of view how gender is understood and constructed.

Can You See It Coming Out of the Mist - Alison Irvine

Alison Irvine is the author of This Road Is Red (Luath Press), a novel based on the true stories of residents of Glasgow's Red Road Flats. It was nominated for the Saltire First Book of the Year Award. Her essay is about the rise and fall of Cumbernauld New Town.

The World’s Longest Daisy Chain - Jenny Lindsay

Born in South Ayrshire, Jenny Lindsay is a Scottish poet, performer and memoirist. Her forthcoming book, Hounded, is published by Golden Hare Press. Her essay looks at peer pressure and bullying.

From Our Own Correspondent - Jemma Neville

Jemma is director of the national arts charity Creative Lives and a regular contributor to The Times and BBC Radio Scotland. She was the inaugural Community Fellow at The Institute of Advanced Studies in Humanities, University of Edinburgh. Her essay is a dispatch from the frontline of motherhood and looks at parenthood and bereavement.

Thin Slices - Sarah Whiteside

Sarah was the recipient of one of Scottish Book Trust’s New Writers’ Awards 2024. She has a degree in Creative Writing from St Andrews and lives in Edinburgh where she is a music therapist. Her essay is a personal story about autism and a critique of flawed social and scientific attitudes.

The competition commemorates journalist and former Wigtown Book Festival Chair Anne Brown and is supported by her children, Richard and Jo.

The winner will be revealed at a special event during the festival.

In addition to the prize money, the winner receives an award designed by artist Astrid Jaekel, their entire essay is published on the festival website and a lengthy excerpt appears in The Herald.

See www.wigtownbookfestival.com for full details