Mohsin Hamid

Hamid shortlisted for major fiction award

James Tait Black Memorial Prizes shortlist announced

24 April 2008

Mohsin Hamid, shortlisted in 2007 for the Man Booker Prize with his novel The Reluctant Fundamentalist, has been shortlisted for the fiction category of the James Tait Black Memorial Prizes.

Acclaimed writers John Burnside and Daniel Mason are on the 2008 shortlist for the £10,000 awards, along with Rosalind Belben and newcomer Gee Williams.

The James Tait Black Memorial Prizes are awarded annually by the University of Edinburgh for the best work of fiction and the best biography published during the previous year.

The awards were founded in 1919 by Janet Coats, the widow of publisher James Tait Black, to commemorate her husband's love of literature.

Past winners include DH Lawrence, Graham Greene and Salman Rushdie.

Best-selling writers Ian Rankin and Alexander McCall Smith are on the advisory committee.

The winners will be announced at the Edinburgh International Book Festival in August 2008.

Manager of the awards, Professor Colin Nicholson of the University of Edinburgh, said: "This year's short-listed novels combine cracking story-telling with exceptional writing skills, as do the nominated biographies, which additionally offer fascinating insights into the lives of some extraordinary people."

The Man Booker Prize Fiction at its finest