Simon Sebag Montefiore

Dr Simon Sebag Montefiore is a prize-winning, bestselling historian and novelist whose books are published in 48 languages. ‘Catherine the Great & Potemkin’ was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize. ‘Stalin: the Court of the Red Tsar’ won History of the Year Prize at the British Book Awards.

‘Young Stalin’ won the Costa Biography Prize (UK), the LA Times Biography Prize (US) and Le Grand Prix de Biographie (France.) ‘Jerusalem: the Biography’ won Book of the Year, Jewish Book Council (USA) and Wenjin Prize (People’s Republic of China). ‘The Romanovs’ won the Lupicaia del Terricio Prize (Italy). He is the author of the Moscow Trilogy of novels of which ‘One Night in Winter’ won Political Novel of the Year.

He has written and presented five BBC series on Jerusalem, Rome, Istanbul (‘Byzantium: a tale of three cities’), Spain (‘Blood and Gold’) and Vienna. He read history at Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge University, where he received his Doctorate of Philosophy (PhD). A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, he is married to the novelist Santa Montefiore and lives in London.