James Tait Black Prize 2026 shortlists announced

In the UK, the shortlists for the James Tait Black prizes have been announced.

The shortlisted titles in each category are:

Fiction

• Big Kiss, Bye Bye (Claire-Louise Bennett, Fitzcarraldo)
• Darryl (Jackie Ess, Clash)
• On the Greenwich Line (Shady Lewis, translated by Katharine Halls, Peirene)
• Sakina’s Kiss (Vivek Shanbhag, translated by Srinath Perur, Faber)
• The Original (Nell Stevens, Scribner).

Biography

• The First and Last King of Haiti (Marlene Daut, Yale University Press)
• Things that Disappear: Reflections and Memories (Jenny Erpenbeck, translated by Kurt Beals, Granta)
• The Cadence of a Song: The Life of Margaret Fay Shaw (Fiona J Mackenzie, Birlinn)
• Oliver Twist & Me: The True Story of My Family and Charles Dickens’s Best-Loved Novel (Nicholas Blincoe, Bridge Street Press)
• Horace: Poet on a Volcano (Peter Stothard, Yale University Press).

Founded in 1919, the James Tait Black Prizes are awarded annually by the University of Edinburgh and are judged by postgraduate students and senior academics at the university. Each winning author receives £10,000 (A$18,860).

More information about shortlisted books is available on the award website.

Category: International news