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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 (since 2013).

James Tait Black Memorial Prizes

Awarded for literature written in the English language

1919 (1919)

History[edit]

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] The drama prize was paused after the 2019 award, during the COVID-19 pandemic, and as of March 2024 the university states that "submissions may re-open in January 2025".[5]

The Heart of the Matter (1948)

Graham Greene

A Disaffection (1989)

James Kelman

The Road (2006)

Cormac McCarthy

Crossing the River (1993)

Caryl Phillips

The Mandelbaum Gate (1965)

Muriel Spark

In 2012, a special prize was given called the 'Best of the James Tait Black' (in addition to the normal prize for that year).[37][38] 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, which was announced on 6 December 2012 as Angela Carter's Nights at the Circus.[39]

James Tait Black Prizes homepage, University of Edinburgh

at Faded Page

James Tait Black Memorial Prize winners

Windows Media Video report of the 2007 James Tait Black Prize ceremony

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)