Dame Hilary Mantel

23rd September, 2022

The founders and judges of the Walter Scott Prize are profoundly saddened by the death of Hilary Mantel.  Dame Hilary won the Prize twice; for Wolf Hall in the Prize’s inaugural year, and for The Mirror and the Light in 2021. She leaves behind a quite extraordinary body of work, but will be remembered above all for her trilogy about Thomas Cromwell, described by our judges as ‘quite simply a masterpiece’. She was a giant in the field of historical fiction, who stood tall in the footsteps of its founding father as a genre, Sir Walter Scott. A warm, gracious and generous winner, she always acclaimed her fellow shortlisted authors and gave invaluable support and advice to the young writers she met through the Young Walter Scott Prize. The loss of Hilary Mantel to the whole literary world is enormous but we feel we have lost a true friend and our hearts go out to her husband Gerald and her family.  Hers was an imagination, insight and originality  that sprang from the mind of a genius. We mourn her and will miss her always.

Richard and Elizabeth Buccleuch, Founders, The Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction

Katie Grant, (Chair) James Holloway, Elizabeth Laird, James Naughtie and Kirsty Wark, Judges, The Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction