The James Tait Black Prize

The James Tait Black Prizes founded in 1919 by Janet Coats, the widow of publisher James Tait Black, the Prizes commemorate her husband's love of good books and recognises the best fiction and biography books of the year.

The James Tait Black Prizes are the only major book awards judged by scholars and students. The prizes are judged by senior staff from within the English Literature department at the University of Edinburgh, assisted by a group of postgraduate students. Edinburgh academics and postgraduate students, who nominate books for the shortlist, read more than 400 books. 

James Tait Black Prize for Fiction 2023 Winner

 Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

The James Tait Black Prize for Biography 2023 Winner.

Come Back in September: A Literary Education on West Sixty-Seventh Street by Darryl Pinckney

2022 Past Fiction Winner ~ A Shock by Keith Ridgway

2022 Past Biography Winner ~ Finding the Raga by Amit Chaudhuri

2021 Past Fiction Winner ~ Lote by  Shola von Reinhold

2021 Past Biography winner ~ A Ghost In The Throat by Doireann Ni Ghriofa

2020 Past Fiction winner ~ Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann (Galley Beggar Press)

2020 Past Biography winner ~ The Photographer at Sixteen: The Death and Life of a Fighter by George Szirtes (MacLehose Press)