Sons and Lovers is a novel by D. H. Lawrence and stands as one of his most notable works, drawing its place in the literary record from its continued association with his name across scholarship and collections.

Lawrence was born on 11 September 1885 in Eastwood and was a citizen of the United Kingdom. He was educated at the University of Nottingham and the University of London. His working life extended well beyond prose fiction: he was a poet, playwright, librettist, translator, and painter, producing work in the English language across all of these forms. His output is associated with modernist literature, a movement with which his writing has been grouped by critics and cataloguers alike.

The novel The Rainbow is among his other notable works. His fiction is also associated with the genre of erotic art, a characterization that attaches to certain portions of his literary output. As a translator he engaged with texts beyond his own original compositions, and as a painter he worked in a visual medium alongside his written practice. The James Tait Black Memorial Prize stands as the most concrete institutional recognition attached to his name in the documentary record, marking an acknowledgment of his contribution as a writer during his lifetime.

Lawrence died on 2 March 1930 in Vence, at the age of forty-four. His authorized library catalogue entry records him as "Lawrence, D. H. (David Herbert), 1885–1930," a designation that has served to anchor his works within library collections and scholarly reference since his death. The receipt of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize remains the specific award the record confirms he received.