Tanika Gupta wins the James Tait Black Prize for Drama

Tanika Gupta has won this year's James Tait Black Prize for Drama, it was announced yesterday evening.

Gupta's play Lions and Tigers, which premiered at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse last year, was awarded the £10,000 prize at a ceremony at Edinburgh's Traverse Theatre. The piece tells the true story of Gupta's great uncle and freedom fighter Dinesh Gupta.

Last year's winner was David Ireland for his play Cyprus Avenue, with previous award recipients also including Gary Owen's one-woman monologue, Iphigenia in Splott, Gordon Dahlquist's sci-fi play Tomorrow Come Today and Rory Mullarkey's Cannibals.

The other shortlisted nominees, chosen from 89 entrants, were Alice Birch, Linda McLean and Gary McNair.