Edward Wilson-Lee

Edward Wilson-Lee is an English literature academic at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, and a specialist in the literature and the history of the book in the early modern period.

Early life

Wilson-Lee is the son of wildlife conservationists, and was born in the same Midwest farming town as his father. He studied English at University College London, and completed a doctorate at Oxford and Cambridge.

Personal life

He is married, with two sons, and lives in the Cambridge area.

Selected publications

Translation and the Book Trade in Early Modern Europe. Cambridge University Press. Shakespeare in Swahililand: Adventures with the Ever-living Poet. William Collins.The Catalogue of Shipwrecked Books: Young Columbus and the Quest for a Universal Library. William Collins.A History of Water: Being an Account of a Murder, an Epic and Two Visions of Global History. William Collins.A Grammar of Angels. A Search for the Magical Powers of Sublime Language.. William Collins.

Awards and honors

Shakespeare in Swahililand became a finalist of William Saroyan [International Prize for Writing] for non-fiction in 2018.
The Catalogue of Shipwrecked Books was shortlisted for the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in Biography and awarded the PEN Hessell-Tiltman Prize in 2019.
Wilson-Lee was named a Guggenheim Fellow in the category of General Nonfiction in List of [Guggenheim Fellowships awarded in 2022|2022].