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] The winner is announced each June at the Borders Book Festival in Melrose.[1]

Winners and shortlist

Blue Ribbon () = winner

Entries sorted alphabetically by surname including the winner.

2010

The longlist was unpublished. The shortlist was announced 1 April 2010[4] and the winner was announced 19 June 2010 as part of the Brewin Dolphin Borders Book Festival which took place at Sir Walter Scott's historic home Abbotsford House in Scotland.[5]

• Sarah Dunant for Sacred Hearts — 16th-century Italian convent
• Adam Foulds for The Quickening Maze — John Clare and Alfred Tennyson (early 19th century)
• Robert Harris for Lustrum — Cicero (106–43 BC)
• Hilary Mantel for Wolf Hall — Thomas Cromwell (1485–1540)
• Simon Mawer for The Glass Room — 1930s Czech
• Iain Pears for Stone's Fall — early 20th-century mystery/thriller
• Adam Thorpe for Hodd — Robin Hood (early medieval)

2011

The longlist was unpublished. The shortlist was announced on 1 April[6] and the winner was announced on 19 June:[7]

• Andrea Levy for The Long Song — 1820s Jamaica
• Tom McCarthy for C — turn of the 20th-century Europe
• David Mitchell for The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet — late 18th-century Shogun Japan
• Joseph O'Connor for Ghost Light — 20th-century England and Ireland
• C. J. Sansom for Heartstone — England during the summer of 1545
• Andrew Williams for To Kill A Tsar — St Petersburg around the turn of the 20th century

2012

The longlist was unpublished. The shortlist was announced on 4 April 2012[8] and the winner was announced on 16 June.[9]

• Sebastian Barry, On Canaan's Side — 20th-century Ireland and Chicago
• Patrick deWitt, The Sisters Brothers — Oregon and California in 1851
• Esi Edugyan, Half-Blood Blues — World War II-era Europe
• Alan Hollinghurst, The Stranger's Child — World War I-era Europe
• Andrew Miller, Pure — Paris in 1786
• Barry Unsworth, The Quality of Mercy — London of 1767 and a Durham coastal mining village

2013

The longlist was unpublished. The shortlist was announced on 18 April 2013[10] and the winner was announced on 14 June 2013.[11]

• Pat Barker, Toby's Room — WWI
• Tan Twan Eng, The Garden of Evening Mists — 1940s and '50s Malaya
• Thomas Keneally, The Daughters of Mars — WWI
• Hilary Mantel, Bring Up the Bodies — Tudor England
• Anthony Quinn, The Streets — 1880s London
• Rose Tremain, Merivel: A Man of His Time — 1680s England

2014

The longlist was unpublished. The shortlist was announced 4 April 2014,[12] and the winner was announced at the Borders Book Festival in Melrose, Scotland, on 13 June.[13]

• Kate Atkinson, Life After Life — during the 20th century
• Eleanor Catton, The Luminaries — New Zealand gold rush of the 19th century
• Jim Crace, Harvest — remote English village following the Enclosure Act in the 18th century
• Andrew Greig, Fair Helen — 1590s in the Borderland of Scotland and England
• Robert Harris, An Officer and a Spy — Dreyfus Affair, which took place in France in the late 1890s
• Ann Weisgarber, The Promise — 1900 Galveston hurricane

2015

The longlist was announced 25 February 2015.[14] The shortlist was announced 24 March 2015.[15] The winner was announced at the Borders Book Festival in Melrose, Scotland, on 13 June.[16]

• Martin Amis, The Zone of Interest — Europe during World War II
• Helen Dunmore, The Lie — England during WWI
• Hermione Eyre, Viper Wine — England in the 17th century
• Adam Foulds, In the Wolf's Mouth — Italy in World War II
• Damon Galgut, Arctic Summer — India in the early 20th century
• Kamila Shamsie, A God in Every Stone — India during WWI
• John Spurling, The Ten Thousand Things — China in the 14th century

2016

The longlist was announced 25 February 2016.[17] The shortlist was announced 23 March 2016.[18] The winner was announced 18 June 2016 at the Brewin Dolphin Borders Book Festival.[19]

• William Boyd, Sweet Caress — 20th century global
• Patrick Gale, A Place Called Winter — early 20th century Saskatchewan
• Gavin McCrea, Mrs Engels — 19th century England
• Allan Massie, End Games in Bordeaux — France WWII
• Simon Mawer, Tightrope — France WWII
• Lucy Treloar, Salt Creek — mid-19th century Australia

2017

The longlist was announced 22 February 2017.[20] The shortlist was announced 28 March 2017.[21] The winner was announced 17 June 2017 at the Baillie Gifford Borders Book Festival, Melrose.[22]

• Jo Baker, A Country Road, A Tree — WWII France
• Sebastian Barry, Days Without End — US Civil War
• Charlotte Hobson, The Vanishing Futurist — Russia early Soviet era
• Hannah Kent, The Good People — 19th century Ireland
• Francis Spufford, Golden Hill — 18th century New York
• Graham Swift, Mothering Sunday — 30 March 1924
• Rose Tremain, The Gustav Sonata — Switzerland during WWII

2018

The longlist was announced 1 March 2018.[23] The shortlist was announced 18 April 2018.[24] The winner was announced 16 June 2018 at the Baillie Gifford Borders Book Festival.[25]

• Jennifer Egan, Manhattan Beach — WWII New York
• Jane Harris, Sugar Money — 18thC Martinique and Grenada
• Paul Lynch, Grace — 19thC Ireland
• Patrick McGrath, The Wardrobe Mistress — 1940s London
• Rachel Malik, Miss Boston and Miss Hargreaves — WWII
• Benjamin Myers, The Gallows Pole — Yorkshire 18thC

2019

The longlist was announced 6 March 2019.[26] The shortlist was announced on 2 April 2019.[27] The winner was announced at the Baillie Gifford Borders Book Festival in Melrose, Scotland on 15 June 2019.[28]

• Peter Carey, A Long Way From Home — 1950s Australia
• Cressida Connolly, After The Party — 1938 England
• Samantha Harvey, The Western Wind — 1491
• Andrew Miller, Now We Shall Be Entirely Free — 1809 Spain
• Michael Ondaatje, Warlight — 1945 London
• Robin Robertson, The Long Take — American, post WWII

2020

The longlist was announced 9 March 2020.[29] The shortlist was announced 31 March.[30] The winner was announced 12 June.[31][32]

• Christine Dwyer Hickey, The Narrow Land — 1950s, Cape Cod
• Isabella Hammad, The Parisian — pre-WWI, Europe, Palestine
• James Meek, To Calais, In Ordinary Time — 14th century, England
• Joseph O'Connor, Shadowplay — 1878, London
• Tim Pears, The Redeemed — WWI, West Country, England
• Marguerite Poland, A Sin Of Omission — late 19th century, South Africa and England

Notes

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. "Booker rivals clash again on Walter Scott prize shortlist", The Guardian, 2 April 2010
5. "Mantel's Wolf Hall wins inaugural Walter Scott Prize for historical novels", The Scotsman, 20 June 2010
6. "Walter Scott historical fiction shortlist announced". BBC News. 1 April 2011. Retrieved 12 June 2011.
7. Alison Flood. "Andrea Levy wins Walter Scott prize", The Guardian, 20 June 2011
8. "Walter Scott historical fiction shortlist announced". BBC News. 4 April 2012. Retrieved 12 April 2012.
9. Alison Flood (16 June 2012). "Sebastian Barry wins Walter Scott prize". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 June 2012.
10. "Shortlist for 2013 Walter Scott Prize Announced". Borders Book Festival. Archived from the original on 7 June 2013. Retrieved 15 June 2013.
11. "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.
12. "Walter Scott Prize Shortlist 2014". Walter Scott Prize. 4 April 2014. Archived from the original on 15 April 2014. Retrieved 27 May 2014.
13. "Robert Harris wins Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction". BBC News. 13 June 2014. Retrieved 13 June 2014.
14. "2015 Longlist". Walter Scott Prize. 25 February 2015. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
15. "2015 Shortlist announced". Walter Scott Prize. 24 March 2015. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
16. "John Spurling wins top prize at Borders Book Festival". BBC News. 13 June 2015. Retrieved 14 June 2015.
17. "2016 Longlist". Walter Scott Prize. 25 February 2016. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
18. "The 2016 Shortlist is announced!". Walter Scott Prize. 23 March 2016. Retrieved 20 June 2016.
19. "The winner of the 2016 Walter Scott Prize is announced!". Walter Scott Prize. 18 June 2016. Retrieved 20 June 2016.
20. "2017 Longlist". Walter Scott Prize. 22 February 2017. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
21. Danuta Kean (28 March 2017). "Walter Scott prize for historical fiction unveils 2017 shortlist". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 April 2017.
22. Danuta Kean (19 June 2017). "Sebastian Barry's 'glorious and unusual' novel wins Walter Scott prize". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 June 2017.
23. "2018 Longlist". Walter Scott Prize. 1 March 2018. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
24. "The 2018 Prize". Walter Scott Prize. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
25. "Benjamin Myers wins Walter Scott Prize 2018". BBC News. 18 June 2018. Retrieved 3 April 2019.
26. "2019 Longlist". Walter Scott Prize. 6 March 2019. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
27. "Carey shortlisted for 2019 Walter Scott Prize". Books+Publishing. 3 April 2019. Retrieved 3 April 2019.
28. "Robin Robertson wins the tenth Walter Scott Prize". walterscottprize.co.uk. 15 June 2019. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
29. "2020 Longlist". Walter Scott Prize. 9 March 2020. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
30. "Walter Scott historical fiction prize shortlist revealed". BBC.com. 31 March 2020. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
31. "Christine Dwyer Hickey wins the 2020 Walter Scott Prize for The Narrow Land". Walter Scott Prize. 12 June 2020. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
32. Alison Flood (12 June 2020). "Fictional portrait of Jo and Edward Hopper wins Walter Scott prize". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 June 2020.

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.