The James Tait Black Memorial Prize

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The James Tait Black Memorial Prize

1andyl
Août 6, 2006, 5:10 am

Awarded since 1919 this is Scotland's most prestigious and the U.K.'s oldest literary awards. An award is made for fiction and biography.

2sycoraxpine
Août 6, 2006, 1:02 pm

Does anyone who has read Saturday, the 2005 Fiction winner, have an endorsement or a warning to give? I have heard both positive and negative reviews so far, so it continues to sit on my shelf, unread.

3LizzySiddal
Août 10, 2006, 1:15 pm

Leave Saturday on the shelf. What a huge disappointment after the brilliant Atonement. Saturday is a prime example of what happens when the editor becomes a sycophant to an author's reputation.

4LizzySiddal
Août 10, 2006, 1:17 pm

I meant to add that 1990's JTB winner Brazzaville Beach by William Boyd is a cracking read.

5Trapnel Premier message
Août 11, 2006, 5:44 pm

I have to agree that Saturday is disappointing. I found it unconvincing and implausible, and abandoned it before the end, which I very rarely do.

6bentoth Premier message
Août 27, 2006, 3:27 pm

I enjoyed it. It got better as it went on. I don't think it is meant to be realistic.

7amandameale
Oct 8, 2006, 8:57 am

I loved Saturday. To me it was a perfect novel, and plausible too. I adored how McEwan covered the minutiae (physical and emotional) of one day, and created an entire novel from that.

8avaland
Nov 26, 2006, 4:11 pm

Ce message a été supprimé par son auteur

9avaland
Nov 26, 2006, 4:12 pm

Last twenty years or so of winners...

2005 Ian McEwan
Saturday
2004 David Peace
GB84
2003 Andrew O'Hagan
Personality
2002 Jonathan Franzen
The Corrections
2001 Sid Smith
Something Like a House
2000 Zadie Smith
White Teeth
1999 Timothy Mo
Renegade or Halo2
1998 Beryl Bainbridge
Master Georgie
1997 Andrew Miller
Ingenious Pain 1914
1996 Graham Swift
Last Orders
1996 Alice Thompson
Justine
1995 Christopher Priest
The Prestige
1994 Alan Hollinghurst
The Folding Star
1993 Caryl Phillips
Crossing the River
1992 Rose Tremain
Sacred Country
1991 Ian Sinclair
Downriver
1990 William Boyd
Brazzaville Beach
1989 James Kelman
A Disaffection
1988 Piers Paul Reid
A Season in the West
1987 George Mackay Brown
The Golden Bird: Two Orkney Stories
1986 Jenny Joseph
Persephone
1985 Robert Edric
Winter Garden (sorry, Touchstones didn't work for the last two titles...no match came up...)

10avaland
Mai 22, 2008, 7:55 am

2006 Cormac McCarthy, The Road was awarded August 2007.

The winner for 2007 will be awarded this August (2008)

11avaland
Mai 22, 2008, 8:14 am

Winning biographies over the last ten years (the award is given for the best biography and best work of fiction):

2006 Byron Rogers - The Man Who Went into the West: The Life of R.S. Thomas
2005 Sue Prideaux - Edvard Munch: Behind The Scream
2004 Jonathan Bate - John Clare: A Biography
2003 Janet Browne - Charles Darwin: Volume 2 - The Power of Place
2002 Jenny Uglow - The Lunar Men: The Friends Who Made the Future 1730-1810
2001 Robert Skidelsky - John Maynard Keynes: Volume 3 Fighting For Britain 1937-1946
2000 Martin Amis - Experience
1999 Kathryn Hughes - George Eliot: The Last Victorian
1998 Peter Ackroyd - The Life of Thomas More

Here's the prize homepage.

13kiwidoc
Mai 19, 2009, 10:21 pm

Out of that list I have read A Mercy and The Secret Scripture and personally preferred the latter.

In the non-fiction pile, I really like the look of the Chagall biography and the Holroyd book. I would love to hear if anyone has read any of the list.

14kidzdoc
Mai 19, 2009, 11:03 pm

I've only read the Hanif and the Barry, and liked both about the same.

15librorumamans
Juil 7, 2009, 8:45 pm

#13

I (and my bookgroup) are reading Sheila Rowbotham's Edward Carpenter: A Life of Liberty and Love. We haven't discussed it yet, but the email comments have been very enthusiastic. I'm finding it wonderfully written, and Carpenter himself (1844-1929) was such a fascinating man! His interests were broad, but focussed around social justice, and in many of his positions he was about one hundred years before his time. Certainly an historical figure who deserves the close examination that Sheila Rowbotham gives him.

16kidzdoc
Août 22, 2009, 6:02 am

Thanks to toolatedave for making us aware of the award announcement.

The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry is this year's winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction. The biography winner is A Strange Eventful History: The Dramatic Lives of Ellen Terry, Henry Irving and their Remarkable Families by Michael Holroyd. Interestingly, the Guardian notes that Holroyd's wife, Margaret Drabble, won the fiction award 42 years ago for her novel Jerusalem the Golden.

Michael Holroyd wins James Tait Black prize 42 years after his wife

17kidzdoc
Mai 15, 2010, 7:41 am

The shortlist for this year's awards was announced yesterday:

The five shortlisted works for the fiction prize are:

* Strangers by Anita Brookner
* The Children’s Book by A.S Byatt
* Nocturnes by Kazuo Ishiguro
* The Selected Works of T.S Spivet by Reif Larsen
* Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

The five books competing for the £10,000 biography prize are:

* Cheever: A life by Blake Bailey
* William Golding: The Man Who Wrote Lord of the Flies by John Carey
* Muriel Spark: The Biography by Martin Stannard
* A Different Drummer: The Life of Kenneth MacMillan by Jann Parry
* The English Opium Eater: A Biography of Thomas De Quincey by Robert Morrison

Book prize shortlist revealed

18kiwidoc
Mai 15, 2010, 10:40 am

Thanks for posting the list, Darryl. It is interesting to see the same names and titles appearing again. I wonder if the different prizes select on certain criteria.

19kidzdoc
Mai 15, 2010, 12:08 pm

Karen, I posted criteria for the award on my thread in the 75 books group. If I remember correctly, the books have to be published in the UK in English in the preceding year. The nationality of the authors is not relevant; Cormac McCarthy was the last American winner fot the fiction award, for his novel "The Road".

20kidzdoc
Modifié : Août 20, 2010, 3:06 pm

The winners of the James Tait Black Memorial Prizes, the oldest literary awards in the UK, were announced earlier today at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. The Prize for Fiction was awarded to A.S. Byatt for her novel The Children's Book, and John Carey won the Prize for Biography for William Golding: The Man Who Wrote "Lord Of The Flies".

James Tait Black Prize winners announced

AS Byatt and John Carey win oldest book prizes

21amandameale
Août 23, 2010, 9:03 am

Thanks kidzdoc!

221morechapter
Modifié : Mai 18, 2012, 4:22 pm

Old news, but this hadn't been updated from last year

Winners:

Fiction: Tatjana Soli, The Lotus Eaters
Non-fiction: Hilary Spurling, Burying the Bones: Pearl Buck in China

231morechapter
Modifié : Mai 18, 2012, 4:21 pm

http://www.ed.ac.uk/news/all-news/jamestaitblack-150512

Shortlist has been announced:

American historian and critic Manning Marable, who was posthumously awarded a Pulitzer Prize, has been shortlisted in the biography category for the James Tait Black Prizes.

Marable’s book - Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention - was published just three days after his death in April 2011.
He is among four writers listed for the £10,000 best biography prize - one of two prizes awarded annually by the University of Edinburgh for books published during the previous year.

The other biographical works on the shortlist are:

Ben Jonson: A Life by Ian Donaldson
The Last Pre-Raphaelite Edward Burne-Jones and the Victorian Imagination by Fiona MacCarthy
Nikolaus Pevsner: The Life by Susie Harries, which also won the 2011 Wolfson History Prize.

Fiction on show
ManBooker Prize nominee A.D. Miller is one of four writers listed in the best work of fiction category, which also carries a £10,000 prize.

London-born Miller, a former journalist for The Economist, is listed for his debut novel Snowdrops.

The three other novels competing for the fiction prize are:

Solace by Belinda McKeon
You and I by Padgett Powell
There But For The by Ali Smith, who is nominated here for the second time.

The quality of works we considered this year was top notch, which made the shortlisting process even more difficult.

Professor Jonathan Wild
Deputy Director for University's Centre for the History of the Book

24geocroc
Août 28, 2012, 5:29 pm

The winners of this year's James Tait Black Memorial Prizes were announced over the weekend at the Edinburgh International Book Festival.

The fiction prize has been won by Padgett Powell for You And I, whilst the biography prize has gone to Fiona MacCarthy for The Last Pre-Raphaelite.

In addition, to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the study of English Literature at The University of Edinburgh, a special award has been launched for the "Best of the James Tait Black" in fiction. The prize has been running for 93 years, so there are plenty of books in contention. A shortlist is due to be announced in the autumn, with the winner revealed in December.

25kidzdoc
Août 30, 2012, 9:41 am

Thanks for posting the winning titles, geocroc.

The "Best of James Tait Black" sounds very interesting; I'll be eager to see which books are selected for the shortlist. Wikipedia's James Tait Black Memorial Prize page includes a complete list of winners; I've read six of the winning titles:

1981 Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie
1993 Crossing the River by Caryl Phillips
2000 White Teeth by Zadie Smith
2005 Saturday by Ian McEwan
2008 The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry
2009 The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt

I'd give my top vote to Midnight's Children.

26geocroc
Août 30, 2012, 3:05 pm

Yes, there's a lot of books and authors I've not heard off. I've only managed to read four of them

1984: Empire of the Sun by J.G. Ballard
2005: Saturday by Ian McEwan
2008: The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry
2009: The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt

Although I also have GB84 by David Peace and The Road by Cormac McCarthy in my 'to read' pile. I'm also tempted to pick up a copy of The Golden Bird: Two Orkney Stories by George Mackay Brown having been to Orkney earlier this year.

27geocroc
Oct 22, 2012, 6:51 am

The shortlist for the Best of the James Tait Black has now been announced. Six books from three living authors and three who are no longer with us. The books are:

Nights at The Circus by Angrla Carter
The Heart of the Matter by Graham Greene
The Mandlebaum Gate by Murial Spark
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
A Disaffection by James Kelman
Crossing The River by Caryl Phillips

28StevenTX
Oct 25, 2012, 10:48 am

I've read 14 of the J. T. Black winners. I'm rather surprised that A Passage to India, Midnight's Children, and The Corrections didn't make the shortlist. I would have joined Darryl in voting for Midnight's Children.

Of the shortlisted books I would vote for The Heart of the Matter, but I haven't read the ones by Spark, Kelman and Phillips.

29StevenTX
Déc 7, 2012, 12:21 am

Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter was named the best-ever winner of the James Tait Black Award. http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/dec/06/angela-carter-uk-oldest-literary-pri...

30geocroc
Mai 20, 2013, 9:13 am

The 2013 shortlists for the James Tait Black Prizes have been announced.

Novels:
The Panopticon by Jenni Fagan
The Big Music by Kirsty Gunn
Leaving The Atocha Station by Ben Lerner
The Deadman's Pedal by Alan Warner

Biography
Portrait of a Novel by Michael Gorra
The Last Sane Man by Tanya Harrod
Joseph Anton: A Memoir by Salman Rushdie
Circulation by Thomas Wright

31kidzdoc
Mai 20, 2013, 9:43 am

Thanks for posting the shortlists, geocroc. I haven't read and don't own any of the novels on the shortlist, but I have read Joseph Anton and Circulation, which won last year's Wellcome Trust Book Prize; both books were excellent.

32geocroc
Août 24, 2013, 3:01 pm

I've just noticed that the 2013 winners of the James Tait Black Prizes have been announced.
The fiction winner is Alan Warner for The Deadman's Pedal. Meanwhile the Biography award has gone to Tanya Harrod for The Last Sane Man.

33Polaris-
Août 25, 2013, 12:24 pm

Thanks for the update geocroc.

The Deadman's Pedal looks quite charming - I've just added it.

34geocroc
Mai 22, 2014, 4:45 pm

The 2014 shortlists for the James Tait Black Prizes have now been revealed by Edinburgh University.

Novels:
Harvest by Jim Crace
Benediction by Kent Haruf
The Flamethrowers by Rachel Kushner
All The Birds, Singing by Evie Wyld

Biographies
The Boys in the Boat: An Epic True-Life Journey to the Heart of Hitler’s Berlin by Daniel James Brown
Empress Dowager Cixi: The Concubine who Launched Modern China by Jung Chang
Penelope Fitzgerald: A life by Hermione Lee
Priscilla: The Hidden Life of an Englishwoman in Wartime France by Nicholas Shakespeare.

So as for the novels a Booker shortlisted title, a couple from the Folio shortlist, and two on the Bailey's Prize.

35geocroc
Août 23, 2014, 5:10 pm

The winners have now been announced. Taking the Novel Prize is Jim Crace for Harvest, whislt the Biography Prize has gone to Hermione Lee for Penelope Fitzgerald: A Life

36bergs47
Août 26, 2015, 10:21 am

An exciting mix of debut and early career writers form the shortlist for Britain's oldest literary awards.

The four novels competing for the fiction prize are:

Dear Thief by Samantha Harvey
Fourth of July Creek by Smith Henderson
In the Light of What We Know by Zia Haider Rahman
We Are Not Ourselves by Matthew Thomas

The shortlisted works for the biography section are:

The Valley: A Hundred Years in the Life of a Family by Richard Benson
In Plain Sight: The Life and Lies of Jimmy Savile by Dan Davies
Eleanor Marx: A Life by Rachel Holmes
Other People’s Countries: A Journey into Memory by Patrick McGuinness

The winners of the prize will be announced in August at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, in the heart of the first UNESCO World City of Literature.

37bergs47
Août 26, 2015, 10:25 am

38bergs47
Août 17, 2016, 4:12 am

Two prizes are awarded annually by the University of Edinburgh’s School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures for books published during the previous year – one for the best work of fiction and the other for the best biography.

James Shapiro’s book, William Shakespeare and the Year of Lear was chosen for the £10,000 biography prize from a shortlist that featured:

The Blue Touch Paper: A Memoir by David Hare
Bloomsbury’s Outsider: A Life of David Garnett by Sarah Knights
John Aubrey: My Own Life by Ruth Scurr

Benjamin Markovits's novel, You Don’t Have to Live Like this, topped a shortlist with three other writers competing for the £10,000 fiction prize that included:

Beatlebone by Kevin Barry
The Wolf Border by Sarah Hall (Faber and Faber)
The First Bad Man by Miranda July (Canongate).

39bergs47
Août 15, 2017, 10:57 am

The winners of the Prizes, presented annually by the University of Edinburgh, was announced on August 14 at the Edinburgh International Book Festival.

The four novels competing for the £10,000 fiction prize are:
A Country Road, A Tree by Jo Baker
What Belongs to You by Garth Greenwell
The Lesser Bohemians by Eimear McBride
The Sport of Kings by C. E. Morgan

The shortlisted biographies are:
The Vanishing Man: In Pursuit of Velazquez by Laura Cumming
A Life Discarded: 148 Diaries Found in a Skip by Alexander Masters
A Stain in the Blood: The Remarkable Voyage of Sir Kenelm Digby by Joe Moshenska
Rasputin by Douglas Smith

Eimear McBride wins James Tait Black prize for The Lesser Bohemians

The £10,000 prize for biographywas won by Laura Cumming for The Vanishing Man.

40bergs47
Août 20, 2019, 11:07 am

James Tait Black Prizes. 2019

The four novels competing for the £10,000 fiction prize are:

Murmur by Will Eaves

Sight by Jessie Greengrass

Crudo by Olivia Laing

Heads of the Colored People by Nafissa Thompson-Spires

The four biographies shortlisted for the £10,000 prize are:

Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire by Akala

In Extremis: The Life of War Correspondent Marie Colvin by Lindsey Hilsum

The Life of Stuff: A Memoir about the Mess We Leave Behind by Susannah Walker

The Catalogue of Shipwrecked Books: Young Columbus and the Quest for a Universal Library by Edward Wilson-Lee

41bergs47
Août 20, 2019, 11:21 am

Olivia Laing, who this weekend won the £10,000 James Tait Black award for her debut novel Crudo

Lindsey Hilsum, who won the biography award,

42bergs47
Sep 9, 2020, 9:33 am

Ducks, Newburyport' by Lucy Ellmann and 'The Photographer at Sixteen: The Death and Life of a Fighter' by George Szirtes won the fiction and biography prizes.

43bergs47
Modifié : Mai 10, 2022, 9:08 am

James Tait Black 2021 - Fiction shortlist

The four books shortlisted for the fiction prize are:
Alligator & Other Stories By Dima Alzayat;
The First Woman by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi
A Children’s Bible by Lydia Millet
Lote by Shola von Reinhold

Lote by Shola von Reinhold, was the winner

44bergs47
Modifié : Mai 10, 2022, 9:11 am

James Tait Black 2021 - Biography shortlist

The four biographies shortlisted for the prize are:
The Warrior, the Voyager, and the Artist: Three Lives in an Age of Empire by Kate Fullagar
A Ghost in the Throat by Doireann Ní Ghríofa
Black Spartacus: The Epic Life of Toussaint Louverture by Sudhir Hazareesingh
Recollections of My Non-Existence by Rebecca Solnit

A Ghost in the Throat by Doireann Ní Ghríofa, was the winner

46bergs47
Modifié : Mai 10, 2022, 9:49 am

Fiction list
The awards – presented by the University since 1919 – are the only major British book prizes judged by literature scholars and students.

The four novels shortlisted for the £10,000 fiction prize 2022 are:
English Magic by Uschi Gatward
Libertie by Kaitlyn Greenidge
A Shock by Keith Ridgway
Memorial by Bryan Washington

Biography list
The four biographies shortlisted for the £10,000 prize 2022 are:
A Little Devil in America: In Praise of Black Performance by Hanif Abdurraqib
Finding the Raga: An Improvisation on Indian Music by Amit Chaudhuri
In Memory of Memory: A Romance by Maria Stepanova, translated by Sasha Dugdale
Burning Man: The Ascent of DH Lawrence by Frances Wilson