James Tait Black Memorial Prize – Fiction

 Christchurch City Libraries lists literary prize winners and links to catalogue searches, but we may not hold copies of all titles mentioned.

The James Tait Black Prizes are Britain’s oldest literary awards. They were founded in 1919 by Janet Coats, the widow of publisher James Tait Black, to commemorate her husband. Two prizes, each of £10,000, are awarded annually for the best work of fiction and the best biography published in the previous year.

The awards have no sponsor — they are administered by the University of Edinburgh, with the winners being chosen by senior staff in the Department of English Literature at the University, assisted by PhD students in the shortlisting phase.

See more literary prize winners.

2023

• Praiseworthy by Alexis Wright Winner
• Lori and Joe by Amy Arnold
• Open Throat by Henry Hoke
• Though the Bodies Fall by Noel O’Regan
• Praiseworthy by Alexis Wright 

2022

• Demon Copperhead Barbara Kingsolver Winner
• Bitter Orange Tree Jokha Alharthi, (translated from the Arabic by Marilyn Booth)
• Bolla Pajtim Statovci, (translated from Finnish by David Hackston)
• After Sappho Selby Wynn Schwartz

2021 

• A Shock Keith Ridgway (Picador) Winner
• English Magic Uschi Gatward (Galley Beggar Press)
• Libertie Kaitlyn Greenidge (Serpent’s Tail)
• Memorial Bryan Washington (Atlantic Books)

2020 

• Lote Shola von Reinhold Winner
• Alligator & Other Stories Dima Alzayat
• The First Woman Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi
• A Children’s Bible Lydia Millet

2019

• Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann Winner
• Travellers by Helon Habila
• Sudden Traveller by Sarah Hall
• Girl by Edna O’Brien

2018

• Crudo Olivia Laing Winner
• Murmur Will Eaves
• Sight Jessie Greengrass
• Heads of the Colored People Nafissa Thompson-Spires

2017

• Attrib Eley Williams Winner
• American War Omar El Akkad
• White Tears Hari Kunzru
• First Love Gwendoline Riley 

2016

• The Lesser Bohemians Eimear McBride Winner
• A Country Road, A Tree Jo Baker
• What Belongs to You Garth Greenwell
• The Sport of Kings C. E. Morgan

2015

• You Don’t Have to Live Like This Benjamin Markovits Winner
• Beatlebone Kevin Barry
• The Wolf Border Sarah Hall
• The First Bad Man Miranda July

2014

• In the light of what we know Zia Haider Rahman Winner
• Dear thief Samantha Harvey
• Fourth of July Creek Smith Henderson
• We are not ourselves Matthew Thomas

2013

• Harvest Jim Crace Winner
• Benediction Kent Haruf
• The flamethrowers Rachel Kushner
• All the birds, singing Evie Wyld

2012

• The deadman’s pedal Alan Warner Winner
• The Panopticon Jenni Fagan
• The big music Kirsty Gunn
• Leaving the Atocha Station Ben Lerner

2011

• You and I Padgett Powell Winner
• Snowdrops A. D. Miller
• Solace Belinda McKeon
• There but for the Ali Smith

2010

• The lotus eaters Tatjana Soli Winner
• The thousand autumns of Jacob De Zoet David Mitchell
• La Rochelle Michael Nath
• The invisible bridge Julie Orringer

2009

• The children’s book A. S. Byatt Winner
• Strangers Anita Brookner
• Nocturnes Kazuo Ishiguro
• The selected works of T. S. Spivet Reif Larsen
• Wolf Hall Hilary Mantel

2008

• The secret scripture Sebastian Barry Winner
• Sputnik Caledonia Andrew Crumey
• A case of exploding mangoes Mohammed Hanif
• Pilcrow Adam Mars-Jones
• A mercy Toni Morrison

2007

• Our horses in Egypt Rosalind Belben Winner
• The devil’s footprints John Burnside
• The reluctant fundamentalist Mohsin Hamid
• A far country Daniel Mason
• Salvage Gee Williams

2006

• The road Cormac McCarthy Winner
• The view from Castle Rock Alice Munro
• The night watch Sarah Waters
• Seven lies James Lasdun
• Half of a yellow sun Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
• Electricity Ray Robinson

2005

• Saturday Ian McEwan Winner
• Praying mantis André Brink
• Never let me go Kazuo Ishiguro
• Beasts of no nation Uzodinma Iweala
• Mother, missing Joyce Carol Oates
• The accidental Ali Smith

2004

• GB84 David Peace Winner
• Havoc, in its third year Ronan Bennett
• Cloud atlas David Mitchell
• The afterglow Anthony Cartwright
• Psychoraag Suhayl Saadi

2003

• Personality Andrew O’Hagan Winner
• Middlesex Jeffrey Eugenides
• The crimson petal and the white Michel Faber
• The curious incident of the dog in the night-time Mark Haddon

2002

• The corrections Jonathan Franzen Winner
• Fragrant harbor John Lanchester
• Family matters Rohinton Mistry
• Unless Carol Shields
• The story of Lucy Gault William Trevor

2001

• Something like a house Sid Smith Winner
• The body artist Don DeLillo
• Atonement Ian McEwan
• number9dream David Mitchell

2000

• White teeth Zadie Smith Winner
• The hiding place Trezza Azzopardi
• House of leaves Mark Z. Danielewski
• In the shape of a boar Lawrence Norfolk

1999

• Renegade or halo² Timothy Mo Winner
• The leper’s companions Julia Blackburn
• A harlot’s progress David Dabydeen
• Headlong Michael Frayn
• The harvest Christopher Hart

1998

• Master Georgie Beryl Bainbridge Winner
• Man or mango? a lament Lucy Ellman
• Charlotte Gray Sebastian Faulks
• The last King of Scotland Giles Foden
• The restraint of beasts Magnus Mills

1997

• Ingenious pain Andrew Miller Winner
• Jack Maggs Peter Carey
• Feeding the ghosts Fred D’Aguiar
• Grace notes Bernard MacLaverty
• Enduring love Ian McEwan