James Tait Black Memorial Prize

 

The James Tait Black Memorial Prizes are Literary Prizes awarded for literature written in the English language

 

Based at the University of Edinburg,Scotland, the prizes were founded in 1919 by Mrs Janet Coats Black in memory of her late husband, James Tait Black, a partner in the publishing house of  A & C Black Ltd

From inception, the James Tait Black prize was organised without overt publicity.

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 Donald 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

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

Selection Process
The winners are chosen by the Professor of English Literature at the University of Edinburg, who is assisted by postgraduate students in the shortlisting phase, a structure which is seen to lend the prizes a considerable gravitas.

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

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). 

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 6 previous winners competed for the title of Best.

Shortlist 

• Angela Carter, Nights at the Circus (1984)
• 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)

 

 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 ''

2014 James Tait Black Memorial Prize Winners

Fiction - Zia Haider Rahman's '' In the Light of What We Know ''

Biography - Richard Benson's  '' The Valley: A Hundred Years in the Life of a Family ''