University of Edinburgh · award year

James Tait Black Prizes 2018

The 2018 James Tait Black Prizes went to In Extremis: The Life of War Correspondent Marie Colvin by Lindsey Hilsum (Biography) and Crudo by Olivia Laing (Fiction). 8 books made the shortlist across 2 categories.

Winners

Biography

  1. In Extremis: The Life of War Correspondent Marie Colvinsource (opens in a new tab)

Fiction

  1. Crudosource (opens in a new tab)

Shortlist

Biography

  1. Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empiresource (opens in a new tab)
  2. The Catalogue of Shipwrecked Books: Young Columbus and the Quest for a Universal Librarysource (opens in a new tab)
  3. The Life of Stuff: A Memoir about the Mess We Leave Behindsource (opens in a new tab)

Fiction

  1. Heads of the Colored Peoplesource (opens in a new tab)
  2. Murmursource (opens in a new tab)
  3. Sightsource (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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