Simon Smith wins Shakespeare’s Globe Book Award

Academic Simon Smith is the winner of this year’s Shakespeare’s Globe Book Award, a biennial prize for a study of the Bard’s early modern plays and the playhouse in which they were performed.

Smith, who is a fellow at the Shakespeare Institute in Stratford-upon-Avon and at the University of Birmingham, was awarded the prize for Musical Responses in the Early Modern Playhouse, 1603-1625, published last year by Cambridge University Press.

His monograph was chosen from a shortlist which was comprised of three other studies: Shakespeare’s Two Playhouses: Repertory and Theatre Space at the Globe and the Blackfriars, 1599-1613 by Sarah Dustagheer (CUP), Hamlet's Moment: Drama and Political Knowledge in Early Modern England by Andras Kisery (Oxford University Press), and Shakespeare and Manuscript Drama by James Purkis (CUP).

Smith said: “I am truly delighted and honoured, especially given the other wonderful books on this year’s expanded shortlist. The award reflects two of the Globe’s most valuable activities: championing new research and engaging new audiences with the history of early modern theatre and drama.”

The judging panel was made up of university academics and was chaired by Patrick Spottiswoode, director of Globe Education.

The award will be presented on 18th September when Simon will receive a £3,000 cash prize and deliver a public lecture in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, part of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre.

Tickets are available via the Shakespeare’s Globe box office.