Kate Williams (historian)
Encyclopedia
Kate Williams is a British author, historian and TV presenter.
in the UK and US (under the imprint Ballantine Books
). It was short-listed for the Marsh/English Speaking Union Prize for the best biography of 2005-6, was selected as a Book of the Year in the The Times
and The Independent
, and broadcast as Book of the Week
on BBC Radio 4
. The film is in production with Picture Palace, and a stage musical is also in development.
Becoming Queen, about the youth of Queen Victoria and her cousin, Princess Charlotte Augusta of Wales
, was published in 2008. It was serialised in the The Sunday Telegraph and it was a Book of the Year in the The Spectator
and Tatler
. The Times
selected it as one of the Top 50 Paperbacks of 2009
Her third biography for Random House
will be published in 2012.
Along with Alison Weir
, Tracy Borman
and Sarah Gristwood, Williams has written The Ring and The Crown: A History of Royal Weddings 1066-2011. The book was published in the UK on the 31st of March 2011 by Random House
, and was serialised in The Daily Telegraph
Williams’ first novel, The Pleasures of Men, about a young girl obsessed with a serial killer in Spitalfields
in 1840, will be published by Penguin Books
in the UK and Disney Hyperion in the US in summer 2011, and also in Canada, Italy, Holland and Brazil.
, MAs from Queen Mary, University of London
and Royal Holloway, University of London
, and a BA from Somerville College, Oxford
. She began researching Emma Hamilton while studying for her doctorate.
She teaches the MA in Creative Writing at Royal Holloway, University of London
.
Williams has had academic essays published in various journals and books:
She also writes articles on history for British broadsheets including The Daily Telegraph
, and reviews for BBC History, History Today
and the Financial Times
.
In 2010 she was a judge for the Biographer's Club Tony Lothian First Biography Prize, the Book Drum Tournament 2010, and the Litro/IGGY
International Young Person's Short Story Award.
A short story, The Weakness of Hearts, was published in issue 104 of Litro literary magazine
: Young Victoria for BBC2, acclaimed by the The Guardian
as ‘telly history at its best’ and The Secret History of Edward VII for Channel Five
. Williams regularly discusses history and culture on Newsnight
, appears as a panellist on Newsnight Review, and has appeared on More4 News
. She has also been an expert or interviewee on various history programmes including Balmoral, The Search for Sherlock Holmes, Jack the Ripper: Newspaper Killer, Nelson’s Trafalgar, The Great British Bake Off
and Faulks
on Fiction.
She wrote and presented the documentary The Grandfather of Self-Help, about Samuel Smiles
, for BBC Radio 4
and has discussed history regularly on Woman’s Hour, Broadcasting House
and the Today programme. Williams gave a historical perspective on the wedding day of Prince William and Catherine Middleton on BBC One.
Williams is the social historian on BBC
series Restoration Home
, airing on BBC2 in Spring 2011.
Books
Her first book, England’s Mistress, a biography of Emma Hamilton, was published by Random HouseRandom House
Random House, Inc. is the largest general-interest trade book publisher in the world. It has been owned since 1998 by the German private media corporation Bertelsmann and has become the umbrella brand for Bertelsmann book publishing. Random House also has a movie production arm, Random House Films,...
in the UK and US (under the imprint Ballantine Books
Ballantine Books
Ballantine Books is a major book publisher located in the United States, founded in 1952 by Ian Ballantine with his wife, Betty Ballantine. It was acquired by Random House in 1973, which in turn was acquired by Bertelsmann AG in 1998 and remains part of that company today. Ballantine's logo is a...
). It was short-listed for the Marsh/English Speaking Union Prize for the best biography of 2005-6, was selected as a Book of the Year in the The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
and The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
, and broadcast as Book of the Week
Book of the Week
Book of the Week is a BBC Radio 4 series broadcast daily on week days. Each week the selected book, always a non-fiction work, is read in five episodes; each fifteen-minute episode is broadcast in the morning and repeated overnight . The Act of Worship replaces the morning broadcast on...
on BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
. The film is in production with Picture Palace, and a stage musical is also in development.
Becoming Queen, about the youth of Queen Victoria and her cousin, Princess Charlotte Augusta of Wales
Princess Charlotte Augusta of Wales
Princess Charlotte of Wales was the only child of George, Prince of Wales and Caroline of Brunswick...
, was published in 2008. It was serialised in the The Sunday Telegraph and it was a Book of the Year in the The Spectator
The Spectator
The Spectator is a weekly British magazine first published on 6 July 1828. It is currently owned by David and Frederick Barclay, who also owns The Daily Telegraph. Its principal subject areas are politics and culture...
and Tatler
Tatler
Tatler has been the name of several British journals and magazines, each of which has viewed itself as the successor of the original literary and society journal founded by Richard Steele in 1709. The current incarnation, founded in 1901, is a glossy magazine published by Condé Nast Publications...
. The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
selected it as one of the Top 50 Paperbacks of 2009
Her third biography for Random House
Random House
Random House, Inc. is the largest general-interest trade book publisher in the world. It has been owned since 1998 by the German private media corporation Bertelsmann and has become the umbrella brand for Bertelsmann book publishing. Random House also has a movie production arm, Random House Films,...
will be published in 2012.
Along with Alison Weir
Alison Weir
Alison Weir is a British writer of history books, and latterly historical novels, mostly in the form of biographies about British royalty.-Personal life:...
, Tracy Borman
Tracy Borman
Tracey Borman is a historian and author from Scothern, United Kingdom. She is most widely known as the author of Elizabeth's Women.Borman was born and brought up in the village of Scothern, UK near Lincoln. She was educated at Scothern Primary School , William Farr School, Welton, and Yarborough...
and Sarah Gristwood, Williams has written The Ring and The Crown: A History of Royal Weddings 1066-2011. The book was published in the UK on the 31st of March 2011 by Random House
Random House
Random House, Inc. is the largest general-interest trade book publisher in the world. It has been owned since 1998 by the German private media corporation Bertelsmann and has become the umbrella brand for Bertelsmann book publishing. Random House also has a movie production arm, Random House Films,...
, and was serialised in The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
Williams’ first novel, The Pleasures of Men, about a young girl obsessed with a serial killer in Spitalfields
Spitalfields
Spitalfields is a former parish in the borough of Tower Hamlets, in the East End of London, near to Liverpool Street station and Brick Lane. The area straddles Commercial Street and is home to many markets, including the historic Old Spitalfields Market, founded in the 17th century, Sunday...
in 1840, will be published by Penguin Books
Penguin Books
Penguin Books is a publisher founded in 1935 by Sir Allen Lane and V.K. Krishna Menon. Penguin revolutionised publishing in the 1930s through its high quality, inexpensive paperbacks, sold through Woolworths and other high street stores for sixpence. Penguin's success demonstrated that large...
in the UK and Disney Hyperion in the US in summer 2011, and also in Canada, Italy, Holland and Brazil.
Academic career, journalism and other works
Williams has a DPhil from Somerville College, OxfordSomerville College, Oxford
Somerville College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England, and was one of the first women's colleges to be founded there...
, MAs from Queen Mary, University of London
Queen Mary, University of London
Queen Mary, University of London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
and Royal Holloway, University of London
Royal Holloway, University of London
Royal Holloway, University of London is a constituent college of the University of London. The college has three faculties, 18 academic departments, and about 8,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students from over 130 different countries...
, and a BA from Somerville College, Oxford
Somerville College, Oxford
Somerville College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England, and was one of the first women's colleges to be founded there...
. She began researching Emma Hamilton while studying for her doctorate.
She teaches the MA in Creative Writing at Royal Holloway, University of London
Royal Holloway, University of London
Royal Holloway, University of London is a constituent college of the University of London. The college has three faculties, 18 academic departments, and about 8,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students from over 130 different countries...
.
Williams has had academic essays published in various journals and books:
- The Force of Language and the Sweets of Love: Eliza Haywood and the Erotics of Reading in Samuel RichardsonSamuel RichardsonSamuel Richardson was an 18th-century English writer and printer. He is best known for his three epistolary novels: Pamela: Or, Virtue Rewarded , Clarissa: Or the History of a Young Lady and The History of Sir Charles Grandison...
’s ClarissaClarissaClarissa, or, the History of a Young Lady is an epistolary novel by Samuel Richardson, published in 1748. It tells the tragic story of a heroine whose quest for virtue is continually thwarted by her family, and is the longest real novelA completed work that has been released by a publisher in...
, Lumen - Nelson and Women, Admiral Lord Nelson: Context & Legacy, ed. David Cannadine,
- Reading Tristram Shandy in the Brothel, The Shandean, 16
- Passion in Translation: 1720s Amatory Writers and the Novel, Remapping the Rise of the Novel, ed. Jenny Mander
- The Rise of the Novel, The History of British Women's Writing 1690-1750, ed. Ros Ballaster
She also writes articles on history for British broadsheets including The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
, and reviews for BBC History, History Today
History Today
History Today is an illustrated history magazine. Published monthly in London since January 1951, it is the world's leading, and possibly oldest, history magazine. Its successful mission has always been to present serious and authoritative history to as wide a public as possible...
and the Financial Times
Financial Times
The Financial Times is an international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and printed in 24 cities around the world. Its primary rival is the Wall Street Journal, published in New York City....
.
In 2010 she was a judge for the Biographer's Club Tony Lothian First Biography Prize, the Book Drum Tournament 2010, and the Litro/IGGY
Iggy
Iggy may refer to:People:* Iggy Pop, American punk rock singer and occasional actor* Jarome Iginla, ice hockey player with the Calgary Flames* Ralph Ignatowski, U.S...
International Young Person's Short Story Award.
A short story, The Weakness of Hearts, was published in issue 104 of Litro literary magazine
Television and radio
Williams appears regularly on TV as a presenter and expert. She presented TimewatchTimewatch
Timewatch is a long-running British television series showing documentaries on historical subjects, spanning all human history. It was first broadcast on 29th September 1982 and is produced by the BBC, the Timewatch brandname is used as a banner title in the UK, but many of the individual...
: Young Victoria for BBC2, acclaimed by the The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
as ‘telly history at its best’ and The Secret History of Edward VII for Channel Five
Channel Five
Channel 5 is a television network that broadcasts in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1997, it was the fifth and final national terrestrial analogue network to launch. The station was branded as Five between 2002 and 2010...
. Williams regularly discusses history and culture on Newsnight
Newsnight
Newsnight is a BBC Television current affairs programme noted for its in-depth analysis and often robust cross-examination of senior politicians. Jeremy Paxman has been its main presenter for over two decades....
, appears as a panellist on Newsnight Review, and has appeared on More4 News
More4 News
More4 News was a daily news programme on the More4 digital television channel in the United Kingdom, airing Monday to Friday from 8.00pm to 8.30pm from 2005 to 2009.-History:More4 News launched at the inception of the More4 channel on 10 October 2005...
. She has also been an expert or interviewee on various history programmes including Balmoral, The Search for Sherlock Holmes, Jack the Ripper: Newspaper Killer, Nelson’s Trafalgar, The Great British Bake Off
The Great British Bake Off
The Great British Bake Off is a British television cooking/Baking competition first shown by the BBC in the summer of 2010.The judges are cookery writer Mary Berry and professional baker Paul Hollywood. Mel & Sue present both the series' of The Great British Bake Off , while Aaron Craze present the...
and Faulks
Sebastian Faulks
-Early life:Faulks was born on 20 April 1953 in Donnington, Berkshire to Peter Faulks and Pamela . Edward Faulks, Baron Faulks, is his older brother. He was educated at Elstree School, Reading and went on to Wellington College, Berkshire...
on Fiction.
She wrote and presented the documentary The Grandfather of Self-Help, about Samuel Smiles
Samuel Smiles
-Early life:Born in Haddington, East Lothian, Scotland, the son of Samuel Smiles of Haddington and Janet Wilson of Dalkeith, Smiles was one of eleven surviving children. The family were strict Cameronians, though when Smiles grew up he was not one of them...
, for BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
and has discussed history regularly on Woman’s Hour, Broadcasting House
Broadcasting House (radio programme)
Broadcasting House is a current affairs programme on BBC Radio 4, presented by Paddy O'Connell. It is broadcast every Sunday between 09:00 and 10:00....
and the Today programme. Williams gave a historical perspective on the wedding day of Prince William and Catherine Middleton on BBC One.
Williams is the social historian on BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
series Restoration Home
Restoration Home (TV series)
Restoration Home is a BBC television series produced by Endemol who created the BBC Restoration . The six episodes feature historic buildings that have been saved from dereliction by their owners...
, airing on BBC2 in Spring 2011.