We are pleased to share that The Cadence of a Song: The Life of Margaret Fay Shaw by Fiona J. Mackenzie has been shortlisted for the James Tait Black Prize. This prize is awarded annually to the best work of fiction and biography, and is judged by University of Edinburgh scholars and students. This esteemed award is the UK’s longest-running book award, first established in 1919, and celebrates books that take creative risks and push the boundaries of form and style.
The Cadence of a Song traces the life of the American folklorist Margaret Fay Shaw, whose recordings and writings helped preserve Gaelic culture in the Hebrides. Shaw’s extraordinary work in documenting and preserving traditional Gaelic songs and customs remains a vital resource for understanding Hebridean music. Her passion for the Hebrides led her from Pennsylvania to the island of South Uist in 1929, and then to Canna in 1935 as the wife of eminent folklorist John Lorne Campbell.
Author of the shortlisted book Fiona J. MacKenzie is a Gaelic singer who has worked in the fields of Gaelic Arts and Culture for thirty years. She was previously Canna House Archivist, National Theatre of Scotland Gaelic Artist in Residence and Highland Council Gaelic Song Fellow. In 2025 she was named as one of The List‘s Hot 100 Arts and Culture Contributors in Scotland.
Fiona responded to the shortlist saying ‘I’m absolutely thrilled that my biography of Margaret Fay Shaw has been shortlisted for the James Tait Black Literary Prize—an honour that feels both humbling and deeply exciting. To see Margaret’s remarkable life, and Magda Sagarzazu’s enduring legacy alongside her, recognised in this way is a real joy; I know Magda, in particular, would have been delighted—she urged me time and again to undertake this work for Margaret, and it was her determination to see the book come to fruition that carried me through. Above all, I hope the book would meet with their approval—that matters more to me than anything else’.
The prize’s lead judges for biography, Dr Désha Osborne and Dr Kate Ash-Irisarr, said ‘The biography shortlist reflects the vitality, range and imaginative power of contemporary life-writing. From ancient poets and eighteenth-century revolutionaries to Hebridean folklore and observations on vanishing worlds, each show how biography can illuminate both the pasts that we inherit and the fragile stories that slip away.’
We are especially proud for our author to be recognised in this year, which saw the highest number of submissions ever received, with Fiona’s book being selected from over 200 entries to the biography prize.
The other books shortlisted in the biography category are The First and Last King of Haiti by Marlene Daut, Things that Disappear: Reflections and Memories by Jenny Erpenbeck, Oliver Twist & Me: The True Story of My Family and Charles Dickens’s Best-Loved Novel by Nicholas Blincoe, and Horace: Poet on a Volcano by Peter Stothard.
