The James Tait Black Memorial Prizes are awarded annually by the University of Edinburgh for the best work of fiction and the best biography published during the previous year. For the first time, the prize-giving ceremony for the James Tait Black Memorial Prizes will take place during The Edinburgh International Book Festival.

Ray Robinson's debut novel ELECTRICITY is competing against:Half of a Yellow Sun - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Seven Lies - James Lasdun, The Road - Cormac McCarthy, The View from Castle Rock - Alice Munro and The Night Watch - Sarah Waters for the £10,000 fiction prize.

The shortlisted works for the biography section, also with a £10,000 prize are: Bad Faith: A Forgotten History of Family and Fatherland' [the lives of Carmen Louis Darquier and his wife and daughter - Carmen Callil; Mellon: An American Life' [Andrew W. Mellon -David Cannadine; John Evelyn: Living for Ingenuity - Gillian Darley; George Mackay Brown: The Life- Maggie Fergusson; The Man who Went into the West: The Life of R.S.Thomas -Byron Rogers; The High Road to China: George Bogle, the Panchen Lama and the First British Expedition to Tibet- Kate Teltscher.

The James Tait Black Memorial Prizes are the only awards of their kind to be presented by a university anywhere in the United Kingdom. Past winners have included Salman Rushdie, Zadie Smith and Ian McEwan and in the past literary giants such as D.H.Lawrence, E.M. Forster and Graham Greene were awarded the prize. Last year's winners were Ian McEwan for Saturday and Sue Prideux for the biography, Edvard Munch: Behind the Scream.

On announcing the shortlist of authors, the manager and novel judge of the awards, Professor Colin Nicholson, of the University of Edinburgh said: "The James Tait Black Memorial prizes, play an important role in identifying and promoting high quality writing. This year's shortlist reflects both new and well-established writing talent from across the globe, including authors from Nigeria, Canada and America."

The shortlist is produced after a rigorous selection process by senior academics and postgraduate students from English Literature at the University. The awards, which are famed for their high standards of academic integrity, were originally set up in 1919 by Janet Coats, the wife of James Tait Black, a partner in the publishing firm A.C.Black, in memory of her husband's dedication to literary excellence.

The awards are supported by an advisory committee which includes Catherine Lockerbie, James Naughtie and the authors Ian Rankin and Alexander McCall Smith. James Naughtie, will announce the winners at a public event at the Edinburgh International Book Festival on Saturday 25 August 2007.