Thomas Penn (historian)
Thomas Penn | |
---|---|
Born | 1974 |
Occupation | Author, Editor |
Language | English |
Nationality | British |
Alma mater | Clare College, Cambridge |
Genre | History |
Notable works | Winter King: The Dawn of Tudor England |
Notable awards | 2012 HW Fisher Prize |
Thomas Penn (born 1974) is an English historian, author and editor. He is best known for his 2011 biography of King Henry VII of England, Winter King: The Dawn of Tudor England, for which he won the HW Fisher Best First Biography prize and which was the subject of a 2013 BBC documentary that he presented.
He is also the author of The Brothers York: An English Tragedy, published in October 2019.
Biography
Penn earned his Ph.D. in medieval history from Clare College, Cambridge. In addition to his writing, he is the editorial director of Penguin Press UK.[1]
He played for the Authors XI amateur cricket team, which is composed of British writers, during its first two seasons and he contributed a chapter to the team's book about their first season playing together, The Authors XI: A Season of English Cricket from Hackney to Hambledon (Bloomsbury, 2013).[2]
Career
Penn's first book, Winter King: The Dawn of Tudor England, was published by Penguin Books in 2011 and is an account of the life of King Henry VII of England. Historian Helen Castor reviewed it for The Telegraph, writing: "In broad outline, this is not a new story – but, in Penn's hands, it is a revelation...Penn has pulled off a rare feat: a brilliant and haunting evocation of the Tudor world, with irresistible echoes of the age of fear in which we now live".[3] Reviewing it for The Guardian, Blair Worden wrote: "If Penn's interpretation can sometimes seem slanted, its exposition would be hard to over-praise. The expressive and evocative power of his writing, and the union of scholarship with artistry, are rare in modern historical writing".[4] Penn was awarded the HW Fisher Best First Biography prize by the Biographers' Club in 2012 for Winter King.[5]
In 2013, Penn presented an hour-long television documentary based on his book on BBC Two. It was titled Henry VII: Winter King.[6]
His next book for adults, The Brothers York: An English Tragedy, is about Edward IV and his two younger brothers, the Duke of Clarence and Richard III. It is due to be published by Penguin Books in October 2019.[7]
Penn wrote a book about King Edward V as part of the Penguin Monarchs series of history books for children, titled Edward V: The May King. It was published in April 2019.[8]
Penn has also written book reviews for the newspaper The Guardian[9][10][11] and the journal London Review of Books.[12][13][14]
Books
- Winter King: The Dawn of Tudor England (Simon & Schuster, 2010), ISBN 978-1439191569
- Edward V: The May King (Penguin Monarchs, 2019), ISBN 978-0241185346
- The Brothers York: An English Tragedy (Simon & Schuster, 2019), ISBN 978-1846146909
References
- ^ "Thomas Penn". Simon and Schuster. Retrieved April 16, 2019.
- ^ Authors Cricket Club (2013). The Authors XI: A Season of English Cricket from Hackney to Hambledon. London: Bloomsbury. ISBN 978-1-4088-4045-0.
- ^ Castor, Helen (September 22, 2011). "Winter King by Thomas Penn: Review". The Telegraph. Retrieved April 22, 2019.
- ^ Worden, Blair (November 25, 2011). "Winter King: the Dawn of Tudor England by Thomas Penn--Review". The Guardian. Retrieved April 16, 2019.
- ^ Williams, Charlotte (November 14, 2012). "Tomalin, Penn win Biographers' Club Prizes". Bookseller.com. Retrieved April 22, 2019.
- ^ Hollingshead, Iain (May 30, 2013). "Henry VII: Winter King, BBC Two, review". Telegraph. Retrieved May 7, 2019.
- ^ "The Brothers York: An English Tragedy". Goodreads. Retrieved April 18, 2019.
- ^ "Edward V (Penguin Monarchs): The May King". Goodreads. Retrieved April 18, 2019.
- ^ Penn, Thomas (December 30, 2014). "England Arise by Juliet Barker review – 14th century discontent". The Guardian. Retrieved April 18, 2019.
- ^ Penn, Thomas (October 30, 2013). "The King's Grave: The Search for Richard III by Philippa Langley and Michael Jones - review". The Guardian. Retrieved April 18, 2019.
- ^ Penn, Thomas (October 19, 2012). "Hilary Mantel's Thomas Cromwell is the man for this season". The Guardian. Retrieved April 18, 2019.
- ^ Penn, Thomas (July 27, 2017). "False Brought Up of Nought". London Review of Books. Retrieved April 19, 2019.
- ^ Penn, Thomas (July 17, 2014). "Jousting for Peace". London Review of Books. Retrieved April 19, 2019.
- ^ Penn, Thomas (April 5, 2012). "The First Consort". London Review of Books. Retrieved April 19, 2019.