David Gange's 'The Frayed Atlantic Edge: A Historian's Journey from Shetland to the Channel' is one of the four joint-winners of the 2019 Highland Book Prize.
The Highland Book Prize celebrates the finest published work which recognises the rich landscape and cultural diversity of the Highlands. After the coronavirus pandemic led to the cancellation of the Ullapool Book Festival, the four shortlisted authors approached the organisers with a suggestion to be awarded the prize together and equally as a collective, as a celebration of life, literature and community.
The joint winners have donated the prize money to the Highland Food Bank, supporting families across the Highlands. In a joint statement they said: “We were all delighted and honoured to be shortlisted for the Highland Book Prize. We have enjoyed the excitement and the publicity and were all very disappointed that the Ullapool Book Festival had to be cancelled, along with so much else. We are living in extraordinary times, and to reflect this, the four shortlisted authors have decided we’d like to be awarded the prize together and equally as a collective – as a celebration of life, literature and community. Further, we would like to donate our £1000 prize to the Highland Food Bank.”
Published by Harper Collins in 2019, 'The Frayed Atlantic Edge' documents a year spent kayaking the weather-ravaged coasts of Atlantic Britain and Ireland from north to south. Paddling alone in sun and storms, among dozens of whales and countless seabirds, David and his kayak travelled through a Shetland summer, Scottish winter and Irish spring before reaching Wales and Cornwall.
The Highland Book Prize vimeo channel has a video of David introducing and reading from his book, along with the other winners, Kathleen Jamie, Ali Smith and Roseanne Watt.
