Simon Sebag Montefiore

Simon Sebag Montefiore is a bestselling historian and novelist, whose books have been published in over forty languages. He read history at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge University, where he received his Doctorate of Philosophy (PhD). Catherine the Great and Potemkin was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson, Duff Cooper, and Marsh Biography Prizes. Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar won the History Book of the Year Prize at the British Book Awards. Young Stalin won the Costa Biography Award (UK), the LA Times Book Prize for Biography (US), Le Grand Prix de la Biographie Politique (France) and the Kreisky Prize for Political Literature (Austria). Jerusalem: The Biography was number one non-fiction Sunday Times bestseller and a global bestseller and won The Book of the Year Prize from the Jewish Book Council (US). His latest history is The Romanovs, 1613–1918.

He is also the author of the acclaimed novels Sashenka and One Night in Winter (published in French as La Cercle Poushkine). One Night in Winter won the Political Novel of the Year Prize (UK) and was longlisted for the Orwell Prize (UK).

The author has written and presented 4 BBC tv series, on Jerusalem, Rome, Istanbul and most recently Spain. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and Visiting Professor of Humanities at the University of Buckingham, he lives in London.

Dr Montefiore regularly lectures around the world on history, Russia and the Middle East, and on subjects such as leadership and revolution.