Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Winners of UK’s oldest literary prize revealed at book festival

The latest winners of the James Tait Black Prizes have been announced at the Edinburgh International Book Festival.

Katrine Bussey
Wednesday 24 August 2022 16:01 EDT
Amit Chaudhuri was one of the winners of this year’s James Tait Black Prizes (Geoff Pugh/University of Edinburgh/PA)
Amit Chaudhuri was one of the winners of this year’s James Tait Black Prizes (Geoff Pugh/University of Edinburgh/PA)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

The latest winners of the UK’s oldest book awards have been announced at a ceremony in Edinburgh.

Writers Amit Chaudhuri and Keith Ridgway join the roll call of authors whose works have won the James Tait Black Prize, which is awarded annually by the University of Edinburgh – with separate awards being made for fiction and biographies.

The prestigious prize is awarded every year by the University of Edinburgh, with author and broadcaster Sally Magnusson announcing this year’s winners during a special event at the Edinburgh International Book Festival.

Dublin-born Keith Ridgway claimed the fiction prize for his book A Shock, which follows the lives of several different characters living in south London.

Judge Dr Benjamin Bateman, of Edinburgh  University said it was a “sensitive, creative, and highly humane examination of lives that, in so much other fiction, would be relegated to the status of minor characters”.

Meanwhile, Chaudri won the biography prize for Finding the Raga: An Improvisation on Indian Music.

Biography judge Dr Simon Cooke, of Edinburgh University, described it as a “work of great depth, subtlety, and resonance, which unobtrusively changed the way we thought about music, place, and creativity”.

The James Tait Black Prizes, which see both winning writers collect £10,000, are distinctive in the way that they are judged, with two academic judges working with postgraduate student readers to assess the shortlisted books.

The awards were first given more than a century ago, but the format is still evolving, with greater involvement of students in the judging process this year.

Previous winners include William Golding, John Le Carre, Iris Murdoch, James Kelman, Ian McEwan and Martin Amis.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in