A portrait of obsessive desire and a lushly illustrated elegy for the lost identity of the Arab world have won the UK’s longest-running literary awards.
This year's James Tait Black Prize winners.
This year's James Tait Black Prizes winners have been announced, with Lucas Rijneveld’s My Heavenly Favourite winning the Fiction prize and the Biography prize won by Lamia Ziadé for My Great Arab Melancholy. Each prize is shared with the writer’s respective translators, Michele Hutchison and Emma Ramadan.
This is the first time that both prizes have been awarded to translated works and only the second time a writer and translator have been awarded a prize together in the history of the awards. The prizes were opened to translations in 2021, with authors and translators honoured equally.
Lucas Rijneveld’s challenging, inventive novel is a major literary achievement that confirms his status as one of Europe’s most exciting new writers. Our panel praised his distinctive and vivid language, which was rendered in a stunning translation by Michele Hutchison. My Heavenly Favourite is a uniquely claustrophobic and compulsive read.
Benjamin Bateman and Hannah Boast
Fiction Judging Panel
Unflinching fiction
Lucas Rijneveld’s Fiction winner, My Heavenly Favourite, translated by Michele Hutchison and published by Faber & Faber, charts a rural veterinarian’s obsession with a young woman, in a dissection of taboos and social norms.
The novel has been commended for its unique voice and uncompromising storytelling, confirming Rijneveld’s reputation as one of the most original voices in contemporary Dutch literature.
What a glorious honour to be added to the tremendous list of literary giants who preceded me in receiving this wonderful award.
Lucas Rijneveld
Fiction prize winner
Rijneveld is a Dutch writer known for his emotionally intense and stylistically bold work. Raised in a religious farming community, his rural background and personal experiences informing his writing. His debut novel, The Discomfort of Evening (2018), won the 2020 International Booker Prize.
Michele Hutchison is a British writer and translator, specialising in Dutch-language literature. She won the 2020 International Booker Prize for her translation of Rijneveld’s novel The Discomfort of Evening.
What an honour to share this year's prize with Lucas Rijneveld for My Heavenly Favourite which certainly was a challenging book to translate. I've long been aware of the prize's reputation and its sterling catalogue of winners so to be included among them is a genuine thrill.
Michele Hutchison
Fiction prize winner
A kaleidoscopic memoir
The Biography prize has been awarded to Lamia Ziadé for My Great Arab Melancholy, translated by Emma Ramadan and published by Pluto Press. A richly illustrated memoir intertwining personal narrative with the political and cultural history of the modern Arab world, the book reflects on tragedies which have impacted the region.
Blending memoir, history and pop culture, My Great Arab Melancholy traces the lives of Arab intellectuals from the mid-20th century onward. Through lush visuals and personal reflection, Ziadé explores the cultural and political upheaval of the Arab world, capturing a sense of collective loss and longing.
My Great Arab Melancholy presents a visually striking and poignant blend of text and image that tells a story of overwhelming loss and perseverance for the people of the Middle East. The images linger in the memory and the words speak only when necessary. Both connect to the past, present and future of a world as seen by its author-illustrator.
Dr Simon Cooke and Désha Osborne
Biography Judging Panel
Beirut born Lamia Ziadé is a French Lebanese author and illustrator known for her richly detailed graphic novels and evocative visual storytelling. Her early experiences in Beirut and ongoing engagement with Arab identity and memory strongly influence her work.
Emma Ramadan is a literary translator, specialising in French to English work. She is the recipient of the PEN Translation Prize, the Albertine Prize, and an NEA Translation Fellowship.
It is a great honour to receive this prestigious prize. I want to thank the jury from the bottom of heart for granting such distinction to a book so passionately supportive of the Palestinian cause. In the horrific times we are living through, I am doubly touched by this honour.
Lamia Ziadé
Biography prize winner
UK's longest-running book prizes
The awards – presented by the University of Edinburgh since 1919 – are the only major British book prizes judged by literature scholars and students, with a £10,000 prize for the winning authors.
An event celebrating the winning titles and all the shortlisted entries will be held on Friday 30 May from 4.00pm at the University of Edinburgh, hosted by judges Dr Simon Cooke and Hannah Boast.
The reception features a conversation with one of last year’s Biography winners, Ian Penman, talking both about his winning title - Fassbinder: Thousands of Mirrors – and his new book, Erik Satie Three Piece Suite.
My deepest gratitude to the jury for recognizing this essential book that uplifts the undersung stories of martyrs, revolutionaries, and dreamers of the Arab world. This award for a hybrid work of writing and illustrations, is a recognition of bravery and originality in storytelling and publishing.
