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The longlist was unpublished.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 which that year took place at Sir Walter Scott's 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The longlist was unpublished.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The longlist was unpublished.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
• , 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
• , 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
• , 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
• , 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 — 18th century Martinique and Grenada
• Paul Lynch, Grace — 19th century Ireland
• Patrick McGrath, The Wardrobe Mistress — 1940s London
• , Miss Boston and Miss Hargreaves — WWII
• Benjamin Myers, The Gallows Pole — Yorkshire 18th century

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

2021[]

The longlist was announced on 23 February 2021.^[33] The shortlist was announced 29 March.^[34] The winner on 17 June.^[35]

• Steven Conte, The Tolstoy Estate – 1812 and 1941, Russia
• Kate Grenville, A Room Made of Leaves – early colonial period, Australia
• Hilary Mantel, The Mirror and the Light – 1536–1540, England
• Maggie O'Farrell, Hamnet – late 16th century, Stratford-upon-Avon
• Pip Williams, The Dictionary of Lost Words – 1880s–1920s, Oxford

Notes[]

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.