Walter Scott Prize

The Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction is a British literary award founded in 2010.^[1] At £25,000, it is one of the largest literary awards in the UK.^[2] The award was created by the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch, whose ancestors were closely linked to Scottish author Sir Walter Scott, who is generally considered the originator of historical fiction with the novel Waverley in 1814.^[3]

Eligible books must have been first published in the UK, Ireland or Commonwealth in the preceding year.^[1] For the purpose of the award, historical fiction is defined as being that where the main events take place more than 60 years ago, i.e. outside of any mature personal experience of the author.^{[1][lower-alpha 1]} The winner is announced each June at the Borders Book Festival in Melrose.^[1]

Recipients

Year	Author	Title	Story and setting	Result	Ref.
2010	Hilary Mantel	Wolf Hall	Thomas Cromwell (1490s–1532)	Winner	[4][5][6]
	Adam Thorpe	Hodd	Robin Hood (early medieval)	Shortlist	[7][8]
	Robert Harris	Lustrum	Cicero (106–43 BC)
	Sarah Dunant	Sacred Hearts	16th-century Italian convent
	Iain Pears	Stone's Fall	Early 20th-century mystery/thriller
	Simon Mawer	The Glass Room	1930s Czech
	Adam Foulds	The Quickening Maze	John Clare and Alfred Tennyson (early 19th century)
2011	Andrea Levy	The Long Song	1820s Jamaica	Winner	[9][10]
	Tom McCarthy	C	Turn of the 20th-century Europe	Shortlist	[5]
	Joseph O'Connor	Ghost Light	20th-century England and Ireland
	C. J. Sansom	Heartstone	England during the summer of 1545
	David Mitchell	The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet	late 18th-century Shogun Japan
	Andrew Williams	To Kill a Tsar	St. Petersburg around the turn of the 20th century
2012	Sebastian Barry	On Canaan's Side	20th-century Ireland and Chicago	Winner	[11][12]
	Esi Edugyan	Half-Blood Blues	World War II-era Europe	Shortlist	[10][13]
	Andrew Miller	Pure	Paris in 1786
	Barry Unsworth	The Quality of Mercy	London of 1767 and a Durham coastal mining village
	Patrick deWitt	The Sisters Brothers	Oregon and California in 1851
	Alan Hollinghurst	The Stranger's Child	World War I-era Europe
2013	Tan Twan Eng	The Garden of Evening Mists	1940s and '50s Malaya	Winner	[14][15]
	Hilary Mantel	Bring Up the Bodies	Thomas Cromwell (1532–1536)	Shortlist	[16]
	Rose Tremain	Merivel: A Man of His Time	1680s England
	Thomas Keneally	The Daughters of Mars	WWI
	Anthony Quinn	The Streets	1880s London
	Pat Barker	Toby's Room	WWI
2014	Robert Harris	An Officer and a Spy	Dreyfus Affair, which took place in France in the late 1890s	Winner	[17][18]
	Andrew Greig	Fair Helen	1590s in the Borderland of Scotland and England	Shortlist	[19][20]
	Jim Crace	Harvest	remote English village following the Enclosure Act in the 18th century
	Kate Atkinson	Life After Life	during the 20th century
	Eleanor Catton	The Luminaries	New Zealand gold rush of the 19th century
	Ann Weisgarber	The Promise	1900 Galveston hurricane
2015	John Spurling	The Ten Thousand Things	China in the 14th century	Winner	[21][22]
	Kamila Shamsie	A God in Every Stone	India during WWI	Shortlist	[23][24]
	Damon Galgut	Arctic Summer	India in the early 20th century
	Adam Foulds	In the Wolf's Mouth	Italy in World War II
	Helen Dunmore	The Lie	England during WWI
	Martin Amis	The Zone of Interest	Europe during World War II
	Hermione Eyre	Viper Wine	England in the 17th century
2016	Simon Mawer	Tightrope	France WWII	Winner	[25][26]
	Patrick Gale	A Place Called Winter	early 20th century Saskatchewan	Shortlist	[27][28]
	Allan Massie	End Games in Bordeaux	France WWII
	Gavin McCrea	Mrs Engels	19th century England
	Lucy Treloar	Salt Creek	mid-19th century Australia
	William Boyd	Sweet Caress	20th century global
2017	Sebastian Barry	Days Without End	US Civil War	Winner	[29][30]
	Jo Baker	A Country Road, a Tree	WWII France	Shortlist	[31][32]
	Francis Spufford	Golden Hill	18th century New York
	Graham Swift	Mothering Sunday	1924
	Hannah Kent	The Good People	19th century Ireland
	Rose Tremain	The Gustav Sonata	Switzerland during WWII
	Charlotte Hobson	The Vanishing Futurist	Russia early Soviet era
2018	Ben Myers	The Gallows Pole	Yorkshire 18th century	Winner	[33][34]
	Paul Lynch	Grace	19th century Ireland	Shortlist	[35][36]
	Jennifer Egan	Manhattan Beach	WWII New York
	Rachel Malik	Miss Boston and Miss Hargreaves	WWII
	Jane Harris	Sugar Money	18th century Martinique and Grenada
	Patrick McGrath	The Wardrobe Mistress	1940s London
2019	Robin Robertson	The Long Take	American, post WWII	Winner	[37]
	Peter Carey	A Long Way From Home	1950s Australia	Shortlist	[38][39]
	Cressida Connolly	After the Party	1938 England
	Andrew Miller	Now We Shall Be Entirely Free	1809 Spain
	Samantha Harvey	The Western Wind	1491
	Michael Ondaatje	Warlight	1945 London
2020	Christine Dwyer Hickey	The Narrow Land	1950s, Cape Cod	Winner	[40][41][42]
	Marguerite Poland	A Sin of Omission	late 19th century, South Africa and England	Shortlist	[43][44]
	Joseph O'Connor	Shadowplay	1878, London
	Isabella Hammad	The Parisian	pre-WWI, Europe, Palestine
	Tim Pears	The Redeemed	WWI, West Country, England
	James Meek	To Calais, in Ordinary Time	14th century, England
2021	Hilary Mantel	The Mirror & the Light	Thomas Cromwell (1536–1540)	Winner	[45][46]
	Kate Grenville	A Room Made of Leaves	early colonial period, Australia	Shortlist	[47][48]
	Maggie O'Farrell	Hamnet	late 16th century, Stratford-upon-Avon
	Pip Williams	The Dictionary of Lost Words	1880s–1920s, Oxford
	Steven Conte	The Tolstoy Estate	1812 and 1941, Russia
2022	James Robertson	News of the Dead	Fictitious Highland glen through three different eras	Winner	[49]
	Andrew Greig	Rose Nicholson	Scotland of the 1570s	Shortlist	[50]
	Amanda Smyth	Fortune	Caribbean oil rush of the 1920s
	Colm Tóibín	The Magician	Twentieth-century Europe, seen though the life of Thomas Mann
2023	Lucy Caldwell	These Days	Northern Ireland, Belfast Blitz 1940s	Winner	[51][52]
	Adrian Duncan	The Geometer Lobochevsky	Rural Ireland 1800s	Shortlist	[53]
	Robert Harris	Act of Oblivion	England 17th century
	Elizabeth Lowry	The Chosen	England, Thomas Hardy 1800s
	Fiona McFarlane	The Sun Walks Down	South Australia 1800s
	Simon Mawer	Ancestry	Crimea and England 1850s
	Devika Ponnambalam	I Am Not Your Eve	Tahiti, Paul Gauguin 1800s
2024	Kevin Jared Hosein	Hungry Ghosts	Harrowing epic set in 1940s Trinidad	Winner	[citation needed]
	Tom Crewe	The New Life	Gay community in 1890s London	Shortlist	[54]
	Joseph O'Connor	My Father's House	Jews and POWs escape from the Gestapo in WWII Rome
	Kai Thomas	In the Upper Country	Underground Railroad refugees resettle in 1800s Ontario, Canada
	Rose Tremain	Absolutely and Forever	Broken relationships in 1960s London and Paris
	Tan Twan Eng	The House of Doors	Murder mystery and end of colonialism in early 20th C Penang, Malaysia

Notes

1. Scott subtitled his first historical novel “Waverley; or, ‘Tis Sixty Years Since.”

References

1. Walter Scott Prize Archived 6 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine, bordersbookfestival.org. Retrieved April 2012.
2. "Historic fiction award honours Sir Walter Scott", BBC, 27 January 2010
3. "New Walter Scott prize to honour historical novels", The Guardian, 2 February 2010
4. Lea, Richard (21 June 2010). "Hilary Mantel wins Walter Scott historical fiction prize for Wolf Hall". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
5. "Walter Scott historical fiction shortlist announced". BBC News. 1 April 2011. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
6. "Awards: Walter Scott Prize". Shelf Awareness. 22 June 2010. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
7. "Awards: Walter Scott Prize Shortlist". Shelf Awareness. 2 April 2010. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
8. Flood, Alison (1 April 2010). "Booker rivals clash again on Walter Scott prize shortlist". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
9. Flood, Alison (20 June 2011). "Andrea Levy wins Walter Scott prize". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
10. "Walter Scott historical fiction shortlist announced". BBC News. 4 April 2012. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
11. Alison Flood (16 June 2012). "Sebastian Barry wins Walter Scott prize". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 June 2012.
12. "Awards: Walter Scott; David Gemmell". Shelf Awareness. 19 June 2012. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
13. "Awards: Indies Choice; E.B. White; Jackson Poetry; Walter Scott". Shelf Awareness. 6 April 2012. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
14. "Awards: Walter Scott Prize; Amazon Breakthrough Novel". Shelf Awareness. 17 June 2013. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
15. "Tan Twan Eng wins The Walter Scott Prize". Borders Book Festival. 14 June 2013. Archived from the original on 8 September 2013. Retrieved 15 June 2013.
16. "Shortlist for 2013 Walter Scott Prize Announced". Borders Book Festival. Archived from the original on 7 June 2013. Retrieved 15 June 2013.
17. "Awards: Walter Scott Prize; Commonwealth Short Story". Shelf Awareness. 18 June 2014. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
18. "Robert Harris wins Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction". BBC News. 13 June 2014. Retrieved 13 June 2014.
19. "Awards: Bailey's Women's; Waterstones Children's; Walter Scott". Shelf Awareness. 8 April 2014. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
20. "Walter Scott Prize Shortlist 2014". Walter Scott Prize. 4 April 2014. Archived from the original on 15 April 2014. Retrieved 27 May 2014.
21. "Awards: Walter Scott for Historical Fiction". Shelf Awareness. 15 June 2015. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
22. "John Spurling wins top prize at Borders Book Festival". BBC News. 13 June 2015. Retrieved 14 June 2015.
23. "Awards: James Beard; Walter Scott". Shelf Awareness. 26 March 2015. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
24. "2015 Shortlist announced". Walter Scott Prize. 24 March 2015. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
25. "Awards: Walter Scott for Historical Fiction Winner". Shelf Awareness. 22 June 2016. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
26. "The winner of the 2016 Walter Scott Prize is announced!". Walter Scott Prize. 18 June 2016. Retrieved 20 June 2016.
27. "Awards: Tony Ryan; Jim Baen; Walter Scott". Shelf Awareness. 28 March 2016. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
28. "The 2016 Shortlist is announced!". Walter Scott Prize. 23 March 2016. Retrieved 20 June 2016.
29. "Awards: Walter Scott Historical Fiction; Pritzker Military Writing". Shelf Awareness. 21 June 2017. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
30. Danuta Kean (19 June 2017). "Sebastian Barry's 'glorious and unusual' novel wins Walter Scott prize". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 June 2017.
31. "Awards: Marfield for Arts Writing; Dylan Thomas; Walter Scott". Shelf Awareness. 28 March 2017. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
32. Danuta Kean (28 March 2017). "Walter Scott prize for historical fiction unveils 2017 shortlist". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 April 2017.
33. "Awards: Walter Scott; PubWest; Maine Literary; Center for Fiction". Shelf Awareness. 18 June 2018. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
34. "Benjamin Myers wins Walter Scott Prize 2018". BBC News. 18 June 2018. Retrieved 3 April 2019.
35. "The 2018 Prize". Walter Scott Prize. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
36. "Awards: Walter Scott Historical Fiction; Ondaatje". Shelf Awareness. 19 April 2018. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
37. "Awards: Walter Scott and RSL Encore Winners". Shelf Awareness. 17 June 2019. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
38. "Carey shortlisted for 2019 Walter Scott Prize". Books+Publishing. 3 April 2019. Retrieved 3 April 2019.
39. "Awards: Walter Scott Historical Fiction; Int'l. Dylan Thomas". Shelf Awareness. 3 April 2019. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
40. "Awards: Walter Scott Winner". Shelf Awareness. 16 June 2020. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
41. "Christine Dwyer Hickey wins the 2020 Walter Scott Prize for The Narrow Land". Walter Scott Prize. 12 June 2020. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
42. Alison Flood (12 June 2020). "Fictional portrait of Jo and Edward Hopper wins Walter Scott prize". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
43. "Awards: Walter Scott Shortlist". Shelf Awareness. 1 April 2020. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
44. "Walter Scott historical fiction prize shortlist revealed". BBC.com. 31 March 2020. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
45. "Awards: Walter Scott, Trillium Winners". 2021-06-18. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
46. Mark Chandler (8 June 2021). "Mantel wins £25k Walter Scott Prize for second time". The Bookseller. Retrieved 22 July 2021.
47. "Awards: Walter Scott Shortlist; PEN America Literary". Shelf Awareness. 25 March 2021. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
48. "Shortlist for the 2021 Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction announced". Walter Scott Prize. 29 March 2021. Retrieved 22 July 2021 – via Sunday Times (South Africa).
49. "Awards: Walter Scott, Griffin Poetry Winners". Shelf Awareness. 20 June 2022. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
50. "Awards: Walter Scott Shortlist; RSL Ondaatje Longlist". Shelf Awareness. 12 April 2022. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
51. Salt, Rebecca (15 June 2023). "Lucy Caldwell wins 2023 Walter Scott Prize for These Days -". The Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction. Retrieved 19 June 2023.
52. Schaub, Michael (30 June 2023). "Winner of the 2023 Walter Scott Prize Is Revealed". Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved 2 July 2023.
53. "The 2023 Shortlist -". The Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction. Retrieved 19 June 2023.
54. "Walter Scott Prize 2024 shortlist announced". Books+Publishing. 2 May 2024. Retrieved 10 May 2024.

External links

• Walter Scott Prize
• "Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction: The new time-travellers", Scotsman.com, 19 June 2010 – examines a rising interest in historical fiction in relation to the new prize.