James Tait Black Memorial Prize

The James Tait Black Memorial Prizes are literary prizes awarded for literature written in the English language. They, along with the Hawthornden Prize, are Britain's oldest literary awards.[1] Based at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, United Kingdom, the prizes were founded in 1919 by Janet Coats Black in memory of her late husband,[2] James Tait Black, a partner in the publishing house of A & C Black Ltd.[3] Prizes are awarded in three categories: Fiction, Biography and Drama.

History

From its inception, the James Tait Black prize was organised without overt publicity. There was a lack of press and publisher attention, initially at least, because Edinburgh was distant from the literary centres of the country. The decision about the award was made by the Regius Chair of Rhetoric and Belles Lettres at the University of Edinburgh.[1]

Four winners of the Nobel Prize in Literature received the James Tait Black earlier in their careers: William Golding, Nadine Gordimer and J. M. Coetzee each collected the James Tait Black for fiction, whilst Doris Lessing took the prize for biography. In addition to these literary Nobels, Sir Ronald Ross, whose 1923 autobiography Memoirs, Etc. received the biography prize, was already a Nobel Laureate, having been awarded the 1902 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on malaria.[4]

In 2012, a third prize category was announced for Drama, with the first winner of this award announced in August 2013.[3]

Selection process and prize administration

The winners are chosen by the Professor of English Literature at the University, who is assisted by postgraduate students in the shortlisting phase, a structure which is seen to lend the prizes a considerable gravitas. At the award of the 2006 prizes, Cormac McCarthy's publisher commented positively on the selection process noting that, in the absence of a sponsor and literary or media figures amongst the judging panel, the decision is made by "...students and professors, whose only real agenda can be great books and great writing".[5] The original endowment is now supplemented by the University and, as a consequence, the total prize fund rose from £6,000 to £20,000 for the 2005 awards.[6] This increase made the two annual prizes, one for fiction and the other for biography, the largest literary prizes on offer in Scotland.[7] The annual prize for drama is worth £10,000.[3] The University is advised in relation to the development and administration of the Prize by a small committee which includes Ian Rankin, Alexander McCall Smith and James Naughtie amongst its members. In August 2007 the prize ceremony was held at the Edinburgh International Book Festival for the first time.[8]

Eligibility

Only those works of fiction and biographies written in English and first published in Britain in the 12-month period prior to the submission date are eligible for the award. Both prizes may go to the same author, but neither prize can be awarded to the same author on more than one occasion. For the drama category, the work should have been written in English, Gaelic or Welsh, and performed by a professional theatre company in the 12-month period prior to the submission date.

List of recipients

Source.[9]

Year	Fiction Award	Biography Award	Drama Award
1919	Hugh Walpole, The Secret City	Henry Festing Jones, Samuel Butler, Author of Erewhon (1835–1902) – A Memoir (Samuel Butler)	N/A
1920	D. H. Lawrence, The Lost Girl	G. M. Trevelyan, Lord Grey of the Reform Bill (Earl Grey)	N/A
1921	Walter de la Mare, Memoirs of a Midget	Lytton Strachey, Queen Victoria (Queen Victoria)	N/A
1922	David Garnett, Lady into Fox	Percy Lubbock, Earlham	N/A
1923	Arnold Bennett, Riceyman Steps	Ronald Ross, Memoirs, Etc. (autobiography)	N/A
1924	E. M. Forster, A Passage to India	William Wilson, The House of Airlie (The Earls of Airlie)	N/A
1925	Liam O'Flaherty, The Informer	Geoffrey Scott, The Portrait of Zelide (Isabelle de Charrière)	N/A
1926	Radclyffe Hall, Adam's Breed	Reverend Dr H. B. Workman, John Wyclif: A Study of the English Medieval Church (John Wyclif)	N/A
1927	Francis Brett Young, Portrait of Clare	H. A. L. Fisher, James Bryce, Viscount Bryce of Dechmont, O.M. (James Bryce, 1st Viscount Bryce)	N/A
1928	Siegfried Sassoon, Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man	John Buchan, Montrose (James Graham)[10]	N/A
1929	J. B. Priestley, The Good Companions	Lord David Cecil, The Stricken Deer: or The Life of Cowper (William Cowper)	N/A
1930	E. H. Young, Miss Mole	Francis Yeats-Brown, The Lives of a Bengal Lancer (autobiography)	N/A
1931	Kate O'Brien, Without My Cloak	J. Y. T. Greig, David Hume (David Hume)	N/A
1932	Helen de Guerry Simpson, Boomerang	Stephen Gwynn, The Life of Mary Kingsley (Mary Kingsley)	N/A
1933	A. G. Macdonell, England, Their England	Violet Clifton, The Book of Talbot (John Talbot Clifton)[11]	N/A
1934	Robert Graves, I, Claudius and Claudius the God	J. E. Neale, Queen Elizabeth (Elizabeth I of England)	N/A
1935	L. H. Myers, The Root and the Flower	Raymond Wilson Chambers, Thomas More (Thomas More)	N/A
1936	Winifred Holtby, South Riding	Edward Sackville West, A Flame in Sunlight: The Life and Work of Thomas de Quincey (Thomas de Quincey)	N/A
1937	Neil M. Gunn, Highland River	Lord Eustace Percy, John Knox (John Knox)	N/A
1938	C. S. Forester, A Ship of the Line and Flying Colours	Sir Edmund Chambers, Samuel Taylor Coleridge (Samuel Taylor Coleridge)	N/A
1939	Aldous Huxley, After Many a Summer Dies the Swan	David C. Douglas, English Scholars[12]	N/A
1940	Charles Morgan, The Voyage	Hilda F. M. Prescott, Spanish Tudor: Mary I of England (Mary I of England)	N/A
1941	Joyce Cary, A House of Children	John Gore, King George V (George V)	N/A
1942	Arthur Waley, Translation of Monkey by Wu Cheng'en	Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede, Henry Ponsonby: Queen Victoria's Private Secretary (Henry Ponsonby)	N/A
1943	Mary Lavin, Tales from Bective Bridge	G. G. Coulton, Fourscore Years (autobiography)	N/A
1944	Forrest Reid, Young Tom	C. V. Wedgwood, William the Silent (William the Silent)	N/A
1945	L. A. G. Strong, Travellers	D. S. MacColl, Philip Wilson Steer (Philip Wilson Steer)	N/A
1946	Oliver Onions, Poor Man's Tapestry	Richard Aldington, A Life of Wellington: The Duke (Arthur Wellesley)	N/A
1947	L. P. Hartley, Eustace and Hilda	Charles E. Raven, English Naturalists from Neckam to Ray (Alexander Neckam and John Ray)	N/A
1948	Graham Greene, The Heart of the Matter	Percy A. Scholes, The Great Dr. Burney (Charles Burney)	N/A
1949	Emma Smith, The Far Cry	John Connell, W. E. Henley (W. E. Henley)	N/A
1950	Robert Henriques, Through the Valley	Cecil Woodham-Smith, Florence Nightingale (Florence Nightingale)	N/A
1951	Chapman Mortimer, Father Goose	Noel Annan, Leslie Stephen (Leslie Stephen)	N/A
1952	Evelyn Waugh, Men at Arms	G. M. Young, Stanley Baldwin (Stanley Baldwin)	N/A
1953	Margaret Kennedy, Troy Chimneys	Carola Oman, Sir John Moore (John Moore)	N/A
1954	C. P. Snow, The New Men and The Masters	Keith Feiling, Warren Hastings (Warren Hastings)	N/A
1955	Ivy Compton-Burnett, Mother and Son	R. W. Ketton-Cremer, Thomas Gray (Thomas Gray)	N/A
1956	Rose Macaulay, The Towers of Trebizond	St John Greer Ervine, George Bernard Shaw (George Bernard Shaw)	N/A
1957	Anthony Powell, At Lady Molly's	Maurice Cranston, Life of John Locke (John Locke)	N/A
1958	Angus Wilson, The Middle Age of Mrs. Eliot	Joyce Hemlow, The History of Fanny Burney (Fanny Burney)	N/A
1959	Morris West, The Devil's Advocate	Christopher Hassall, Edward Marsh (Edward Marsh)	N/A
1960	Rex Warner, Imperial Caesar	Canon Adam Fox, The Life of Dean Inge (Dean Inge)	N/A
1961	Jennifer Dawson, The Ha-Ha	M. K. Ashby, Joseph Ashby of Tysoe (Joseph Ashby)	N/A
1962	Ronald Hardy, Act of Destruction	Meriol Trevor, Newman: The Pillar and the Cloud and Newman: Light in Winter (John Henry Newman)	N/A
1963	Gerda Charles, A Slanting Light	Georgina Battiscombe, John Keble: A Study in Limitations (John Keble)	N/A
1964	Frank Tuohy, The Ice Saints	Elizabeth Longford, Victoria R.I. (Queen Victoria)	N/A
1965	Muriel Spark, The Mandelbaum Gate	Mary Caroline Moorman, William Wordsworth: The Later Years 1803–1850 (William Wordsworth)	N/A
1966	Christine Brooke-Rose, Such Aidan Higgins, Langrishe, Go Down	Geoffrey Keynes, The Life of William Harvey (William Harvey)	N/A
1967	Margaret Drabble, Jerusalem the Golden	Winifred Gérin, Charlotte Brontë: The Evolution of Genius (Charlotte Brontë)	N/A
1968	Maggie Ross, The Gasteropod	Gordon Haight, George Eliot (George Eliot)	N/A
1969	Elizabeth Bowen, Eva Trout	Antonia Fraser, Mary, Queen of Scots (Mary, Queen of Scots)	N/A
1970	Lily Powell, The Bird of Paradise	Jasper Ridley, Lord Palmerston (Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston)	N/A
1971	Nadine Gordimer, A Guest of Honour	Julia Namier, Lewis Namier (Lewis Namier)	N/A
1972	John Berger, G	Quentin Bell, Virginia Woolf (Virginia Woolf)	N/A
1973	Iris Murdoch, The Black Prince	Robin Lane Fox, Alexander the Great (Alexander the Great)	N/A
1974	Lawrence Durrell, Monsieur: or, The Prince of Darkness	John Wain, Samuel Johnson (Samuel Johnson)	N/A
1975	Brian Moore, The Great Victorian Collection	Karl Miller, Cockburn's Millennium (Henry Cockburn)	N/A
1976	John Banville, Doctor Copernicus	Ronald Hingley, A New Life of Chekhov (Chekhov)	N/A
1977	John le Carré, The Honourable Schoolboy	George Painter, Chateaubriand: Volume 1 – The Longed-For Tempests (François-René de Chateaubriand)	N/A
1978	Maurice Gee, Plumb	Robert Gittings, The Older Hardy (Thomas Hardy)	N/A
1979	William Golding, Darkness Visible	Brian Finney, Christopher Isherwood: A Critical Biography (Christopher Isherwood)	N/A
1980	J. M. Coetzee, Waiting for the Barbarians	Robert B. Martin, Tennyson: The Unquiet Heart (Alfred Tennyson)	N/A
1981	Salman Rushdie, Midnight's Children Paul Theroux, The Mosquito Coast	Victoria Glendinning, Edith Sitwell: Unicorn Among Lions (Edith Sitwell)	N/A
1982	Bruce Chatwin, On The Black Hill	Richard Ellmann, James Joyce (James Joyce)	N/A
1983	Jonathan Keates, Allegro Postillions	Alan Walker, Franz Liszt: The Virtuoso Years (Franz Liszt)	N/A
1984	J. G. Ballard, Empire of the Sun Angela Carter, Nights at the Circus	Lyndall Gordon, Virginia Woolf: A Writer's Life (Virginia Woolf)	N/A
1985	Robert Edric, Winter Garden	David Nokes, Jonathan Swift: A Hypocrite Reversed (Jonathan Swift)	N/A
1986	Jenny Joseph, Persephone	Dame Felicitas Corrigan, Helen Waddell (Helen Waddell)	N/A
1987	George Mackay Brown, The Golden Bird: Two Orkney Stories	Ruth Dudley Edwards, Victor Gollancz: A Biography (Victor Gollancz)	N/A
1988	Piers Paul Read, A Season in the West	Brian McGuinness, Wittgenstein, A Life: Young Ludwig (1889–1921) (Ludwig Wittgenstein)	N/A
1989	James Kelman, A Disaffection	Ian Gibson, Federico García Lorca: A Life (Federico García Lorca)	N/A
1990	William Boyd, Brazzaville Beach	Claire Tomalin, The Invisible Woman: The Story of Nelly Ternan and Charles Dickens (Ellen Ternan and Charles Dickens)	N/A
1991	Iain Sinclair, Downriver	Adrian Desmond and James Moore, Darwin (Charles Darwin)	N/A
1992	Rose Tremain, Sacred Country	Charles Nicholl, The Reckoning: The Murder of Christopher Marlowe (Christopher Marlowe)	N/A
1993	Caryl Phillips, Crossing the River	Richard Holmes, Dr Johnson and Mr Savage (Samuel Johnson)	N/A
1994	Alan Hollinghurst, The Folding Star	Doris Lessing, Under My Skin	N/A
1995	Christopher Priest, The Prestige	Gitta Sereny, Albert Speer: His Battle with Truth (Albert Speer)	N/A
1996	Graham Swift, Last Orders Alice Thompson, Justine	Diarmaid MacCulloch, Thomas Cranmer: A Life (Thomas Cranmer)	N/A
1997	Andrew Miller, Ingenious Pain	R. F. Foster, W. B. Yeats: A Life, Volume 1 – The Apprentice Mage 1865-1914 (W. B. Yeats)	N/A
1998	Beryl Bainbridge, Master Georgie	Peter Ackroyd, The Life of Thomas More (Thomas More)	N/A
1999	Timothy Mo, Renegade, or Halo2	Kathryn Hughes, George Eliot: The Last Victorian (George Eliot)	N/A
2000	Zadie Smith, White Teeth	Martin Amis, Experience	N/A
2001	Sid Smith, Something Like a House	Robert Skidelsky, John Maynard Keynes: Volume 3 – Fighting for Britain 1937–1946 (John Maynard Keynes)	N/A
2002	Jonathan Franzen, The Corrections	Jenny Uglow, The Lunar Men: The Friends Who Made the Future 1730–1810 (Lunar Society of Birmingham)	N/A
2003	Andrew O'Hagan, Personality	Janet Browne, Charles Darwin: Volume 2 – The Power of Place (Charles Darwin)	N/A
2004	David Peace, GB84	Jonathan Bate, John Clare: A Biography (John Clare)	N/A
2005	Ian McEwan, Saturday[13]	Sue Prideaux, Edvard Munch: Behind the Scream (Edvard Munch) [13]	N/A
2006	Cormac McCarthy, The Road	Byron Rogers, The Man Who Went Into the West: The Life of R. S. Thomas (R. S. Thomas)	N/A
2007	Rosalind Belben, Our Horses in Egypt [14]	Rosemary Hill, God's Architect: Pugin and the Building of Romantic Britain (Augustus Pugin) [14]	N/A
2008	Sebastian Barry, The Secret Scripture [15]	Michael Holroyd, A Strange Eventful History (The families of Ellen Terry and Henry Irving)[15]	N/A
2009	A. S. Byatt, The Children's Book [16]	John Carey, William Golding: The Man Who Wrote Lord of the Flies (William Golding)[16]	N/A
2010	Tatjana Soli, The Lotus Eaters[17]	Hilary Spurling, Burying the Bones: Pearl Buck in China (Pearl Buck)[17]	N/A
2011	Padgett Powell, You and I [18]	Fiona MacCarthy, The Last Pre-Raphaelite: Edward Burne-Jones and the Victorian Imagination (Edward Burne-Jones)[18]	N/A
2012	Alan Warner, The Deadman's Pedal [3]	Tanya Harrod, The Last Sane Man: Michael Cardew, Modern Pots, Colonialism and the Counterculture (Michael Cardew) [3]	Tim Price, The Radicalisation of Bradley Manning[3]
2013	Jim Crace, Harvest[19]	Hermione Lee, Penelope Fitzgerald: A Life [19]	Rory Mullarkey, Cannibals[20]
2014	Zia Haider Rahman, In the Light of What We Know[21]	Richard Benson, The Valley: A Hundred Years in the Life of a Family[21]	Gordon Dahlquist, Tomorrow Come Today[22]
2015	Benjamin Markovits, You Don't Have to Live Like This[23]	James Shapiro, 1606, Shakespeare and the Year of Lear[23]	Gary Owen, Iphigenia in Splott[24]
2016	Eimear McBride, The Lesser Bohemians[25]	Laura Cumming, The Vanishing Man[25]	David Ireland, Cyprus Avenue[26]
2017	Eley Williams, Attrib. and other stories[27]	Craig Brown, Ma'am Darling: 99 Glimpses of Princess Margaret	Tanika Gupta, Lions and Tigers[28]
2018	Olivia Laing, Crudo	Lindsey Hilsum, In Extremis: The Life and Death of the War Correspondent Marie Colvin	Announced 19 August 2019

Best of the James Tait Black (2012)

In 2012, a special prize was given called the 'Best of the James Tait Black' (in addition to the normal prize for that year).[29][30] The award celebrated the fiction winners over the past 93 years, as part of the 250th anniversary of the study of English Literature at the University. A shortlist of six previous winners competed for the title of Best. A judging panel of celebrity alumni and writers decided on the winner announced on 6 December 2012 as Angela Carter's Nights at the Circus.[31]

Shortlist [29][30]

• Angela Carter, Nights at the Circus (1984) [31]
• Graham Greene, The Heart of the Matter (1948)
• James Kelman, A Disaffection (1989)
• Cormac McCarthy, The Road (2006)
• Caryl Phillips, Crossing the River (1993)
• Muriel Spark, The Mandelbaum Gate (1965)

References

1. Brian W. Shaffer (2008). A Companion to the British and Irish Novel 1945 - 2000. John Wiley & Sons. p. 164. ISBN 978-1-4051-5616-5. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
2. "In memory of Janet Coats – 90th Anniversary of Scotland's oldest Literary Prize". wordpress.com. 19 August 2009.
3. Iona McLaren (24 August 2013). "Winners announced of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize 2013". The Telegraph. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
4. Mary E. Gibson (August 1978). "Sir Ronald Ross and his contemporaries" (PDF). Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. 71 (8): 611–612. doi:10.1177/014107687807100815. PMC 1436581. PMID 20894263. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
5. "Video report of the James Tait Black Prize ceremony, August 2007". University of Edinburgh. 27 August 2007. Archived from the original on 23 December 2012.
6. "University boosts James Tait Black Prizes". University of Edinburgh. 28 November 2005. Archived from the original on 11 February 2007.
7. Pauli, Michelle (2 May 2006). "Ali Smith hits the shortlists again". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 5 May 2010.
8. "James Tait Black Memorial Prize Ceremony". The University of Edinburgh. 8 June 2007. Archived from the original on 26 October 2007.
9. "Previous winners". James Tait Black Memorial Prize website. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
10. Scholarly revision of Buchan's earlier "The Marquis of Montrose" (1913)
11. Biography of the explorer John Talbot Clifton (1868–1928), father of Harry Clifton (Henry Talbot de Vere Clifton, dedicatee of W.B. Yeats' poem Lapis Lazuli)
12. Includes studies of antiquaries including Elias Ashmole, William Dugdale, Thomas Hearne, George Hickes, Thomas Madox, John Nalson, Edward Thwaites and Humfrey Wanley
13. John Ezard (8 June 2006). "A prize, at last, for McEwan novel". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
14. "New winners for oldest book prize". BBC News. 22 August 2008. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
15. Alison Flood (21 August 2009). "Michael Holroyd wins James Tait Black prize 42 years after his wife". The Guardian.
16. "AS Byatt and John Carey win James Tait Black Memorial Prizes". The Telegraph. 20 August 2010. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
17. "Dazzling tale of Ms Saigon takes top award". The Scotsman. 20 August 2011.
18. Jen Bowden. "Fiona MacCarthy and Padgett Powell win James Tait Black prizes". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
19. "Authors join book prize's hall of fame". University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 23 August 2014.
20. "2014 drama awards". University of Edinburgh. Archived from the original on 26 August 2014. Retrieved 23 August 2014.
21. Alison Flood (17 August 2015). "James Tait Black prize goes to Zia Haider Rahman's debut novel". The Guardian.
22. "Play by bestselling author wins drama prize". University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
23. "James Tait Black Prize winners announced". BBC. 15 August 2016. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
24. Drama prize, University of Edinburgh
25. "Eimear McBride wins James Tait Black prize for The Lesser Bohemians". Guardian. 15 August 2017. Retrieved 15 August 2017.
26. Drama prize, University of Edinburgh
27. https://www.ed.ac.uk/news/2018/literary-duo-join-oldest-book-prizes-hall-of-fame
28. Lions and Tigers wins the James Tait Black Prize for Drama 2018, theedinburghreporter.co.uk, 20 August 2018.
29. Russell Leadbetter (21 October 2012). "Book prize names six of the best in search for winner". Herald Scotland. Retrieved 21 October 2012.
30. "Authors in running for 'best of best' James Tait Black award". BBC News. 21 October 2012. Retrieved 21 October 2012.
31. Alison Flood (6 December 2012). "Angela Carter named best ever winner of James Tait Black award". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 December 2012.

External links

• James Tait Black Prizes homepage, University of Edinburgh
• James Tait Black Memorial Prize winners at Faded Page
• Windows Media Video report of the 2007 James Tait Black Prize ceremony
• James Tait Black Prizes homepage, University of Edinburgh
• New Statesman article on the James Tait Black and Booker prizes
• James Tait Black feature on the BBC Radio 4's 'Open Book' (includes audio link)