2022 in Scotland marks the Year of Stories, a national campaign putting Scotland’s stories at the heart of tourism, and celebrating the breadth of talent and deep history surrounding the country. Our ‘Shaping Scotland’s Stories’ strand will take readers behind the scenes on how stories come to be, putting publishers at the heart. You can learn more about the campaign below.
What is the Year of Stories?
Visit Scotland, the country’s national tourism body, chooses themed years. For 2022, it is the Year of Stories, in which they celebrate stories inspired by, written, or created in Scotland. As per their website: “Stories are a vital part of Scotland’s culture and every community has a different tale to tell. Shared stories, whether spoken, written, sung or filmed are what give a sense of place, history and belonging. From old icons to emerging voices, local legends to tales of the natural world, Scotland’s Year of Stories is sure to capture your imagination.” The five key themes of the year are:
- Iconic stories and storytellers
- Inspired by nature
- Local tales and legends
- New stories
- Scotland’s people and places
Learn more about the Year of Stories at Visit Scotland’s website.
How will Publishing Scotland be taking part? What is ‘Shaping Scotland’s Stories’?
Across 2022, Publishing Scotland will be running a series of events, as well as online content, and more, looking to explore the publishing process and what goes into making stories, alongside the vast opportunity the theme affords for books and authors themselves. Our strand, titled Shaping Scotland’s Stories, will spotlight the breadth of talent coming from Scotland’s publishers and creators, with particular focus on our membership, as well as offering a glimpse behind the scenes into what takes a story from an idea to that brilliant final manuscript, who is involved in the process, and how stories evolve. Much of our normal annual output will complement the Year of Stories, including tailored Books from Scotland themes, to catalogues showcasing the breadth of books from Scotland’s publishers being sent to bookshops, libraries and visitor centres across the country.
How can you be part of Publishing Scotland’s year?
Firstly, you can join us at one of our events across the country. We are partnering with numerous book festivals across the year to host a variety of events with authors and publishers that will dive into different areas of the industry in many ways. View our events announced so far.
While we will be working within Visit Scotland’s five key themes for the year, we’ve also mapped out 2022 with our own monthly themes, which you can see here. If you have any ideas that you would like to pitch, this may be a useful guide.
Pitch pieces, articles, or books to the theme. Year of Stories will have a number of its own content strands, but will also be working in collaboration with both Scottish Books International and Books from Scotland. You can pitch any books with Scottish ties in any form to Heather McDaid (Year of Stories coordinator) and Vikki Reilly (Marketing and Events Manager) at heather.mcdaid@publishingscotland.org and vikki.reilly@publishingscotland.org.
A word from Publishing Scotland:
“Publishing is where stories meet the world,” says Marion Sinclair, Chief Executive of Publishing Scotland. “We welcome very warmly the arrival of Year of Stories 2022 as a wonderful opportunity to spotlight the work of writers and publishers in Scotland. Publishing in Scotland began over 500 years ago – the contribution it has made to getting stories out to the wider world still continues to this day with member publishers, agents and booksellers across the entire country. The work of selecting, commissioning, developing, shaping, producing, marketing, and selling, all plays a huge part in helping stories reach their audience.”
“Visit Scotland’s campaign is a great opportunity for the Scottish book world to celebrate under one umbrella,” adds Heather McDaid, Year of Stories Coordinator at Publishing Scotland, “a chance for us to further spotlight the work that goes into making books, showcasing not only many brilliant authors, but the teams and processes behind the scenes, working hard to bring stories to life. Across the year, Publishing Scotland will be celebrating Scottish stories in their many forms, and further showcasing the vibrant talent of Scotland’s publishing and literary sector.”