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James Tait Black Prizes 2025 announced
The James Tait Memorial Black Prize, now in its 106th year, is the only major British book prize to be judged by literature scholars and students.
This year is the first time that both prizes – which are awarded in fiction and biography – have been awarded to translated works.
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It is also only the second time a writer and translator have been awarded a prize together in the history of the awards.
The prizes were first opened to translations in 2021, with authors and translators honoured equally.
The winning authors receive a £10,000 prize.
See the winners of this year's prizes below.
James Tait Memorial Black Prize winners 2025:
Fiction: My Heavenly Favourite, Lucas Rijneveld, translated by Michele Hutchison (Faber & Faber)
Biography: My Great Arab Melancholy, Lamia Ziade, translated by Emma Ramadan (Pluto Press)
Lucas Rijneveld's winning fiction title, My Heavenly Favourite, translated by Michele Hutchison, charts a rural veterinarian's obsession with a young woman.
The novel was commended by judges for its unique voice and uncompromising storytelling.
Rijneveld is a Dutch writer known for his emotionally intense and stylistically bold work. His debut novel, The Discomfort of Evening (2018), won the 2020 International Booker Prize.
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Translator Hutchison is a British writer and translator specialising in Dutch-language literature, and also won the 2020 International Booker Prize for her translation of Rijneveld's debut novel.
Rijneveld said: 'What a glorious honour to be added to the tremendous list of literary giants who preceded me in receiving this wonderful award.'
Hutchison added: '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."
The fiction prize judging panel, led by University of Edinburgh academics Benjamin Bateman and Hannah Boast, said: "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.'
The biography prize has been awarded to Lamia Ziade for My Great Arab Melancholy, translated by Emma Ramadan. The text traces the lives of Arab intellectuals from the mid-20th century onward, exploring the cultural and political upheaval of the Arab world, capturing a sense of collective loss and longing.
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Beirut-born Ziade is a French-Lebanese author and illustrator, while Ramadan is an award-winning literary translator, specialising in French to English work.
Commenting, Ziade said: '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. I am also very grateful to David Shulman, my editor at Pluto Press, for publishing this book so unusual in both its form and its subject, and to my translator Emma Ramadan for her excellent work.'
Ramadan said: 'My deepest gratitude to the jury for recognizing this essential book by Lamia Ziadé that uplifts the undersung stories of martyrs, revolutionaries, and dreamers of the Arab world, decrying the imperialist forces that wreaked havoc in this region, and revealing the ripple effect in our current climate.
'This award for a hybrid work of writing and illustrations, is a recognition of bravery and originality in storytelling and publishing.'
Biography prize judges Dr Simon Cooke and Desha Osborne said: "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 – historical and traumatic – linger in the memory long after turning the page. The words - beautifully translated - speak only when necessary and yet are inseparable from the images.
"Both speak to the past, present and future of a world through the eyes of its author-illustrator.'
A ceremony to recognise the winning titles and the shortlisted entries will take place on Friday.
