LONDON (AP) 鈥 An engrossing account of 鈥渉ow Shakespeare became Shakespeare鈥 has been named the greatest-ever winner of the U.K.鈥檚 leading nonfiction book prize.
James Shapiro鈥檚 鈥1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare鈥 won the Baillie Gifford Prize Winner of Winners award on Thursday. It was crowned from a field of six finalists drawn from the 24 winners of the Baillie Gifford Prize, which marks its 25th edition this year.
Shapiro, professor of English and comparative literature at Columbia University, was awarded the 25,000-pound ($31,000) prize at a celebratory dinner in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Shapiro said it was 鈥渆xtraordinarily gratifying鈥 that the book is still read and recommended, almost 20 years after it was first published.
鈥淚 hated Shakespeare in high school," said Shapiro, now regarded as one of America's leading Shakespearean scholars. 鈥(I) wanted to write a book for people who, like me, didn鈥檛 necessarily get what this writer and his books were about.
"I think that鈥檚 one of the reasons why this book still has legs.鈥
The nonfiction award 鈥 launched in 1999 and known until 2015 as the Samuel Johnson Prize 鈥 celebrates English-language books from any country in the fields of current affairs, history, politics, science, sport, travel, biography, autobiography and the arts. It has been credited with bringing an eclectic slate of fact-based books to a wider audience.
Shapiro鈥檚 book, which won the prize in 2006, explores Shakespeare鈥檚 life in teeming Tudor London in the year he turned 35, completed 鈥淗enry V,鈥 wrote 鈥淛ulius Caesar鈥 and 鈥淎s You Like It鈥 and produced the first draft of 鈥淗amlet,鈥 widely regarded as his greatest play.
鈥淭he book is really about how Shakespeare became Shakespeare," Shapiro told The Associated Press.
The author has said that winning the original award in 2006 changed his life, by giving him the chance to work with theater troupes including the Royal Shakespeare Company, which in turn changed his understanding of Shakespeare.
鈥淎ctors care about Shakespeare probably more than anyone else does, and they love the book,鈥 Shapiro said. 鈥淎nd that is always one of the great rewarding thigs for me.
鈥淵ou鈥檙e talking to a very lucky writer whose book found him as much as he found the book.鈥
Author and academic Sarah Churchwell, one of the four prize judges, said Shapiro鈥檚 book 鈥渄oes so many things remarkably well.鈥
It鈥檚 鈥渁 biography of one of the greatest writers who ever lived, about whom we know almost nothing,鈥 she said, and 鈥渁 biography of the mind of a genius at work.鈥
Churchwell said the judges 鈥渇elt it was important the book that won showed what creative nonfiction can do.鈥
鈥1599鈥 beat five other books, including British writer Craig Brown鈥檚 鈥淥ne Two Three Four: The Beatles in Time,鈥 好色tv author Wade Davis鈥 mountaineering odyssey 鈥淚nto the Silence鈥 and 好色tv Margaret MacMillan鈥檚 history of the post-World War I peace talks, 鈥淧aris 1919.鈥
The two other finalists were American: Barbara Demick, for 鈥淣othing to Envy: Real Lives in North Korea,鈥 and Patrick Radden Keefe for opioid expose 鈥淓mpire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty.鈥
