The Tony Lothian Prize is an annual literary prize presented by the London-based Biographers' Club to the best book proposal from a first-time biographer. Prize winners received £2,000.[1]

In 2023, the Biographers' Club announced that the prize would be renamed the following year as the Elizabeth Buccleuch Prize to honor Elizabeth, Duchess of Buccleuch, who had died that year. The award had previously been named after her mother, Antonella Kerr, Marchioness of Lothian.[2]

Recipients

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Prize winners and finalists
Year Author Title Result Ref.
2010 Matt Cox White Lies, Black Magic: Prince Monolulu Winner [3]
2011 Jane Gordon-Cumming The American Heiress and the Scottish Rake: The True Story of the Royal Baccarat Scandal Winner [4]
2012 Jane Willis Marguerite, Byron and the Literary Factory Winner [4]
Carrie Chandler Shortlist [5]
2013 Elaine Thornton Amalia Beer: A Prussian-Jewish Life Winner [6]
2014 Polly Clark Thank You So Much for Writing Winner [4]
2015 Francesca Wade Square Haunting[a] Winner [7]
2016 Sarah Watling Noble Savages[b] Winner [8]
Judy O’Kane Thirst Shortlist [5]
Deborah Spring A Woman of Ideas: Lady Anne Bacon 1528–1610 Shortlist [5]
2017 John Woolf Queen Victoria's Freaks: The Performers at Buckingham Palace[c] Winner [9][10]
Lin Rose Clark The Boxing Parson of Killarney Shortlist [9][11]
Oli Hazzard Enter a Cloud: A Book on/with/for/after W.S. Graham Shortlist [9][11]
Susan Kelly Willibald’s Journey Shortlist [9][11]
Philip Ward Every Other Inch a Gentleman: The Lives of Michael Arlen Shortlist [9][11]
2018 Harriet Baker Rural Hours: Interwar Female Writers, Landscape and Living Winner [12]
Susan Karen Burton Gaijin: Modern Japan Through Western Eyes Shortlist [13][14]
Patrick Donovan Who Killed Arnold Bennett? The Wife, the Mistress and Virginia Woolf Shortlist [14]
Susan Dunne Parallel Lives: The Literary Friendship of Charlotte Bronte and Elizabeth Gaskell Shortlist [14]
Katharine Campbell Behold the Dark Gray Man: The Life and Times of Sholto, Lord Douglas of Kirtleside Shortlist [14]
2019 Tom Seymour Evans The Canyons: Six British Exiles, Los Angeles and the Counterculture Winner [15]
Emma Bielecki The Lives of Vidocq: From King of Thieves to Prince of Policemen Shortlist [16]
J S Casey Isabel Rawsthorne: An Artist in Paris and Soho Shortlist [16]
Jay Prosser Empire’s Loving Strangers: Journeys Through an Asian-Jewish Camphorwood Chest Shortlist [8][16]
Joe Stadolnik The Unsettled Life of Duarte Brandao Shortlist [16]
Lois K. Yorke The Life and Times of a Difficult Woman: Anna Harriette Leonowens (1831–1915). Shortlist [16]
2020 Kate Crehan But Will it Get a Laugh? The Life of Doris Hare in Three Acts[d] Winner [4]
Brad Bigelow Failures: Six Ways to be Forgotten Shortlist [17]
Alex Grant The Last Imposter: The Enigma of John Stonehouse Shortlist [17]
Gerry Harrison Good Guy or Bad Guy: The Enigmas of Reggie Smith Shortlist [17]
Jayne Sharratt Amabel Williams-Ellis and The Art of Being a Woman Shortlist [17]
Sophie Shorland The Portingall Queen Shortlist [17]
2021 Sarah Harkness Alexander Macmillan, Advocate for the Ignorant:The Life and Times of a Victorian Publisher Winner [1]
Helen Bain Court Green: Sylvia Plath in Devon 1961-2 Shortlist [18]
Sharon Mather Poets, Painters and Players: The Private Life of Edward Marsh Shortlist [18]
Amy Ripley Passion and Power: The Life and Loves of Ann Fleming and Laura, Duchess of Marlborough Shortlist [18]
Jane Winter All Things to All Men: The Fate of Rupert Brooke Shortlist [18]
Benjamin Wright Centurion of the Inner Circle: The Secret Service of Ronnie Sinclair Shortlist [18]
2022 Catherine Haig An Unfinished Life: Lady Gwendolen Cecil (1860–1945) Winner [19]
Tara McEvoy Padraic Fiacc: Poet of the Pagan City Shortlist [20]
Annette Rubery The Female Rake: Peg Woffington’s Scandalous Life on the Georgian Stage Shortlist [20]
2023 Andrew Kenrick Juba--From Roman Slave to African King Winner [2][21]
Victoria Baena A Sentimental Education: Amélie Bosquet, Gustave Flaubert, and the Writer’s Vocation in Nineteenth-Century France Shortlist [22]
Stephanie Genty Bitter Strength: The Life and Work of Marilyn French, Feminist Shortlist [22]
Sue Laurence Ada Chesterton: Fleet Street Bohemian and Adventurer Shortlist [22]
Andrew Moscrop Upriver, after Fred: A Thames Journey Shortlist [22]
Matthew Zipf Renata Adler: At the Radical Middle Shortlist [22]

Notes

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  1. ^ Square Haunting was published by Faber & Faber in 2020
  2. ^ Noble Savages was published by Jonathan Cape in 2019
  3. ^ Queen Victoria's Freaks was published by Michael O’Mara Books in 2018 as Peerless Prodigies: Freaks, Circuses and the extraordinary World of P.T. Barnum
  4. ^ But Will It Get a Laugh was published by the Society for Theatre Research

References

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  1. ^ a b Comerford, Ruth (December 9, 2021). "Harkness wins Tony Lothian Prize for proposal on Macmillan". The Bookseller. Archived from the original on December 20, 2023. Retrieved December 20, 2023.
  2. ^ a b "Awards: Tony Lothian Prize". Shelf Awareness. December 18, 2023. Archived from the original on December 20, 2023. Retrieved December 20, 2023.
  3. ^ "Industry Focus: The Importance of Literary Awards". Falmouth University English & Creative Writing. December 13, 2017. Archived from the original on December 20, 2023. Retrieved December 20, 2023.
  4. ^ a b c d "The £2,000 Tony Lothian Prize". The Biographer's Club. Archived from the original on November 24, 2022. Retrieved December 20, 2023.
  5. ^ a b c Onwuemezi, Natasha (September 29, 2016). "Five unpublished biographies in contention for £2,000 prize". The Bookseller. Archived from the original on December 20, 2023. Retrieved December 20, 2023.
  6. ^ "Awards: H.W. Fisher Best First Biography; American Book Winners". Shelf Awareness. November 25, 2013. Archived from the original on May 14, 2023. Retrieved December 20, 2023.
  7. ^ "Awards: World Fantasy, Biographers' Club Winners". Shelf Awareness. November 9, 2015. Archived from the original on November 5, 2023. Retrieved December 20, 2023.
  8. ^ a b "Dr Jay Prosser shortlisted for Tony Lothian Prize". University of Leeds. November 29, 2019. Archived from the original on December 20, 2023. Retrieved December 20, 2023.
  9. ^ a b c d e "Awards: Tony Lothian Winner". Shelf Awareness. December 19, 2017. Archived from the original on April 10, 2023. Retrieved December 20, 2023.
  10. ^ Cowdrey, Katherine (December 13, 2017). "Uncommissioned biography on Queen Victoria's 'freaks' scoops Tony Lothian Prize". The Bookseller. Archived from the original on December 20, 2023. Retrieved December 20, 2023.
  11. ^ a b c d Onwuemezi, Natasha (December 29, 2017). "Five unpublished biographies shortlisted for Tony Lothian Prize". The Bookseller. Archived from the original on December 20, 2023. Retrieved December 20, 2023.
  12. ^ "Awards: Tony Lothian Winner". Shelf Awareness. December 14, 2018. Archived from the original on December 9, 2022. Retrieved December 20, 2023.
  13. ^ "Susan Karen Burton shortlisted for Tony Lothian Prize". New Writing. University of East Anglia. Archived from the original on December 20, 2023. Retrieved December 20, 2023.
  14. ^ a b c d Cowdrey, Katherine (November 28, 2018). "2018's Tony Lothian Prize shortlist revealed". The Bookseller. Archived from the original on December 20, 2023. Retrieved December 20, 2023.
  15. ^ "Tom Seymour Evans wins Tony Lothian Prize". The Biographer's Club. December 5, 2019. Archived from the original on December 20, 2023. Retrieved December 20, 2023.
  16. ^ a b c d e Chandler, Mark (November 29, 2019). "Tony Lothian Prize 2019 shortlist revealed". The Bookseller. Archived from the original on December 20, 2023. Retrieved December 20, 2023.
  17. ^ a b c d e "The Shortlist for the 2020 Tony Lothian Prize has been Announced". The Biographer's Club. November 16, 2020. Archived from the original on December 20, 2023. Retrieved December 20, 2023.
  18. ^ a b c d e "The Shortlist for the 2021 Tony Lothian Prize has been Announced". The Biographer's Club. November 25, 2021. Archived from the original on December 20, 2023. Retrieved December 20, 2023.
  19. ^ Brown, Lauren (December 8, 2022). "Tony Lothian Prize goes to Catherine Haig for 'engaging' biography proposal". The Bookseller. Archived from the original on December 20, 2023. Retrieved December 20, 2023.
  20. ^ a b Brown, Lauren (November 25, 2022). "Haig, McEvoy and Rubery shortlisted for £2,000 Tony Lothian Prize". The Bookseller. Archived from the original on November 27, 2022. Retrieved December 20, 2023.
  21. ^ Wood, Heloise (December 13, 2023). "Kenrick and de Courcy honoured at 2023 Tony Lothian Prize". The Bookseller. Archived from the original on December 13, 2023. Retrieved December 20, 2023.
  22. ^ a b c d e Wood, Heloise (December 5, 2023). "Bumper shortlist for 2023 Tony Lothian Prize". The Bookseller. Archived from the original on December 20, 2023. Retrieved December 20, 2023.