So Eng;land's oldest literary prize is holding a Best of the James Tait Black, which: "celebrates the fiction winners over the past 93 years", and chooses one from a shortlist of six previous winners as best of the best.
(Why such a celebration, given the very unround anniversary ?
Oh, it's all: "part of the University's 250th English Literature anniversary".)
The shortlist has now been announced -- though predictably not yet at the official site, last I checked ... (man, do I get tired of writing that ...). But several news organizations have published the titles of the six finalists: see, for example, Book prize names six of the best in search for winner in The Herald and Authors in running for 'best of best' James Tait Black award at the BBC.
Some solid competition -- though a lot more interesting titles they could have chosen.
(The James Tait is certainly more reliably interesting than that Man Booker (among the few books they've agreed upon: John Berger's G, and Rushdie's Midnight's Children), and with the prize having gone to the likes of Iain Sinclair's Downriver (1991) and Timothy Mo's Renegade or Halo² (1999) ... yeah, it's hard not to have a soft spot for it.)
The shortlist has now been announced -- though predictably not yet at the official site, last I checked ... (man, do I get tired of writing that ...). But several news organizations have published the titles of the six finalists: see, for example, Book prize names six of the best in search for winner in The Herald and Authors in running for 'best of best' James Tait Black award at the BBC.
Some solid competition -- though a lot more interesting titles they could have chosen.
(The James Tait is certainly more reliably interesting than that Man Booker (among the few books they've agreed upon: John Berger's G, and Rushdie's Midnight's Children), and with the prize having gone to the likes of Iain Sinclair's Downriver (1991) and Timothy Mo's Renegade or Halo² (1999) ... yeah, it's hard not to have a soft spot for it.)