Projects per year
Personal profile
Biography
Christopher Bigsby, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and the Royal Society of Arts, is an award winning academic, novelist and biographer. His first novel (of five), Hester, won the McKitterick Prize. Beautiful Dreamer (2002) was an American Library Association Notable Book. With Don Wilmeth, he won the Bernard Hewitt Award for Outstanding Research in Theatre History and the George Freedley Jury Award for The Cambridge History of the American Theatre. His biography of Arthur Miller was shortlisted for the James Taite Black Memorial Prize, the Sheridan Morley Prize and the George Freedley Memorial Award. It was a CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title for 2009 and was joint winner of the American Studies network Award. His is also winner of the Betty Jean Jones Award for Outstanding Teacher of American Theatre and Drama.
As a broadcaster, he presented Radio 4’s Kaleidoscope for over eight years, as well as Radio 3’s Third Ear and Radio 4’s Off the Page. He was also presenter of Radio 3’s First Night and Radio 4’s Present Voices, Past Words and The Index as well as presenting editions of The Archive Hour and Centurions. He has made television programmes on John Steinbeck, Mark Twain, and Edith Wharton. He has reviewed for a number of national newspapers (including The Guardian, The Independent and The Daily Telegraph)and his programme notes have appeared in theatres throughout the UK, in Australia, Canada and the United States. For 18 years he was Director of the British Council’s flagship Cambridge Seminar and has travelled widely on its behalf
He has published some fifty books, including his recent two-volume biography of Arthur Miller (PDF 105 KB). His most recent books (2013) are Viewing America: 21st Century Television Drama and volume 5 of Writers in Conversation with Christopher Bigsby.
Download Christopher Bigsby's CV (PDF 94 KB).
Key Research Interests
Aspects of English and American culture, from African American literature and popular culture to theatre.
Areas of Expertise
Projects
- 4 Finished
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American Studies Network Seminar on 1968
Embassy of the United States of America
14/09/07 → 16/09/07
Project: Research
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American Studies Network Book prize
Embassy of the United States of America
1/12/02 → 30/04/08
Project: Other
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Twenty-First Century American Playwrights
Bigsby, C., Jan 2018, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 232 p.Research output: Book/Report › Book
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Writers in Conversation Volume Six
Bigsby, C., 2017, Norwich: Boiler House Press. 330 p.Research output: Book/Report › Book
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Viewing America: Twenty-First Century Television Drama
Bigsby, C., 31 Oct 2013, Cambridge University Press. 512 p.Research output: Book/Report › Book
Prizes
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Arthur Miller Biography - listed for The Sheridan Morley Prize, The James Tate Memorial Prize, and The George Freedley Memorial Award; winner of the American Studies Network Prize
Bigsby, Christopher (Recipient), 2011
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
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The Barnard Hewitt Award for outstanding research in theatre history awarded by the American Society for Theatre Research
Bigsby, Christopher (Recipient), 2011
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
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The Betty Jean Jones Award for Outstanding Teacher of American Theatre and Drama, an award of the American Theatre and Drama Society
Bigsby, Christopher (Recipient), 2011
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
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The Special Jury Prize for Distinguished Achievement awarded by the Theatre Library Association [awarded jointly with Professor Don Wilmeth]
Bigsby, Christopher (Recipient), 2011
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
Activities
- 3 Invited talk
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Sarah Tryphena Phillips Lecture, British Academy
Christopher Bigsby (Invited speaker)
2008Activity: Participating in or organising an event › Invited talk
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Harmsworth Lecture, Oxford University
Christopher Bigsby (Invited speaker)
2008Activity: Participating in or organising an event › Invited talk
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Janet Grayson Lecture, Keene State College
Christopher Bigsby (Invited speaker)
2008Activity: Participating in or organising an event › Invited talk