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James Tait Black Prizes 2015

The 2015 James Tait Black Prizes went to 1606: William Shakespeare and the Year of Lear by James Shapiro (Biography) and You Don't Have to Live Like This by Benjamin Markovits (Fiction). 8 books made the shortlist across 2 categories.

Winners

Biography

  1. 1606: William Shakespeare and the Year of Lear by James Shapirosource (opens in a new tab)

Fiction

  1. You Don't Have to Live Like This by Benjamin Markovitssource (opens in a new tab)

Shortlist

Biography

  1. Bloomsbury's Outsider: A Life of David Garnett by Sarah Knightssource (opens in a new tab)
  2. John Aubrey: My Own Life by Ruth Scurrsource (opens in a new tab)
  3. The Blue Touch Paper: A Memoir by David Haresource (opens in a new tab)

Fiction

  1. Beatlebone by Kevin Barrysource (opens in a new tab)
  2. The First Bad Man by Miranda Julysource (opens in a new tab)
  3. The Wolf Border by Sarah Hallsource (opens in a new tab)

About the James Tait Black Prizes

Fiction and Biography shortlists and winners; Drama (2012-2019) is excluded. Year is the prize year as the University labels it: the books' publication year, with winners announced the following summer (the 2024 prizes were announced in August 2025). Each book appears once, as Winner or Shortlist. 2023 Biography had joint winners. Shortlists from University of Edinburgh news releases (ed.ac.uk, cahss.ed.ac.uk, james-tait-black.ed.ac.uk, and a 2010 University Bulletin PDF for 2009) for 2009, 2010 and 2012-2025. Fallbacks where no university page survives: 2006 from RTE, 2007 from The Guardian, 2008 from BBC News, 2011 from Deadline News. Shortlist sizes vary: 6 per category in 2006, 5 in 2007-2009 and 2025, 6 Biography in 2023, 5 Biography in 2024, 4 otherwise.

Organization: University of Edinburgh. Years are award years, which can differ from publication years. Official site (opens in a new tab)

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