Regarded
by many as among the most prestigious and worthwhile prizes for literary
endeavour, the James Tait Black prizes for fiction and biography are
keenly noted by those with serious interest in the state of these arts.
James Naughtie, he of the terrifying interview technique and chair of Radio 4's Book Club programme, proved a wise as well as obvious choice
to anchor this year's awards ceremony at the Edinburgh International Book
Festival. Both Dr. Roger Savage, speaking of the biography category, and Professor
Colin Nicholson, covering fiction, conceded that the selection process had
proved particularly challenging on this occasion.
The biography short-list
contained a range of subjects, all from the 19th or 20th centuries, but
offering a variety of insights and perspectives on the times as well as
the lives of their subjects. The short listed titles were: Hand Me My
Travelin' Shoes: In Search of Blind Willie McTell by Michael Gray; God's
Architect: Pugin and the Building of Romantic Britain by Rosemary Hill; Edith
Wharton by Hermione Lee; Young Stalin by Simon Sebag Montefiore; and John
Stuart Mill:Victorian Firebrand by Richard Reeves.
Mid-twentieth-century Georgia (USA), through mid-nineteenth-century Britain to Georgia
(eastern Europe) takes in a considerable sweep of time as well as place,
but Dr. Savage had words in praise of them all, before announcing the award
had gone to Rosemary Hill for her impressive biography of Augustus Pugin.
Professor
Nicholson pointed out the unique and democratic process by which titles
achieve the short list. Traditionally, senior members of the English
Literature department of the University of Edinburgh arrive at this by
dint of post-graduate students reading through some 15 books apiece and
making recommendations. An advisory panel was made up this year of novelist Ian
Rankin, the Book Festival's own Catherine Lockerbie, Professor Alexander
McCall Smith, neatly bridging any gap between the University and
literature as a profession, and the aforesaid James Naughtie.
Professor
Nicholson commented on the high standard of entries, short-listed to Our
Horses in Egypt by Rosalind Belben; The Devil's Footprints by John
Burnside; The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid; A Far Country by
Daniel Mason; and Salvage by Gee Williams. The winner is, of course, Our
Horses In Egypt by Rosemary Belbin, conscious enough of her good fortune
to refer to the James Tait Black awards as "the gold standard." In which
case, all the works included for consideration are likely to continue to
be appreciated as much, and in some ways one hopes more, than the metal
itself.
Times: Aug 23 at 19:00
Copyright Bill Dunlop August 2008
Published EdinburghGuide.com August 2008