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Jonathan Cape author Robert Crawford has taken home the £10,000 Book of the Year prize at the 2009 Saltire Society Literary Awards for his biography of Robert Burns The Bard: Robert Burns, A Biography.
Oxford University Press also won two prizes at the ceremony, which took place last night (30th November) at the National Library of Scotland. Donald Worster won the Homecoming Award for A Passion for Nature: The Life of John Muir while The Historical Thesaurus of the English Dictionary took the Research Book of the Year title.
First Book of the Year went to Eleanor Thom for The Tin-Kin (Duckworth) and the History Book of the Year went to Alexander Broadie for A History of Scottish Philosophy (Edinburgh University Press).
All four were awarded £1,500.
The awards were presented by Culture Minister Michael Russell, who said: "The Awards play a huge part in celebrating Scotland's literary heritage and the incredible strength of talent displayed by our contemporary writers.
"It is fitting that we applaud this talent on St Andrew's Day—our national day—particularly when this year's winning entries reflect the rich cultural, natural and intellectual heritage of this nation."
Martyn Wade, national librarian, said: "It has been an honour to host these prestigious awards for the 12th time, recognising the wealth of literary talent Scotland has to offer. Our congratulations to all of this year's deserving winners."