2007 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction and Biography

THE UNITED KINGDOM’S oldest and most literary of book awards, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction and Biography (established in 1919), has announced two shortlists: fiction and biography, two of my most favourite genres.

Fiction
1. Our Horses in Egypt / Rosalind Belben
2. The Devil’s Footprints / John Burnside
3. The Reluctant Fundamentalist / Mohsin Hamid
4. A Far Country / Daniel Mason
5. Salvage / Gee Williams

Biography
1. Hand Me My Travelin’ Shoes: In Search of Blind Willie McTell / Michael Gray
2. God’s Architect: Pugin and the Building of Romantic Britain / Rosemary Hill
3. Edith Wharton / Hermione Lee
4. Young Stalin / Simon Sebag Montefiore
5. John Stuart Mill: Victorian Firebrand / Richard Reeves

The winners will be announced on August 25, 2007 in Edinburgh, Scotland