1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare

James Shapiro (Faber & Faber)

The event took place at the Theatre Museum, Covent Garden on 1st April 2006

The shortlisted books were:

Fanny Kemble: A Reluctant Celebrity by Rebecca Jenkins

The Coming of Godot by Jonathan Croall

Peter Brook by Michael Kustow

1599: A Year in The Life Of Shakespeare by James Shapiro

Greek Tragedy and the British Theatre, 1660-1914 by Edith Hall and Fiona Macintosh (Oxford University Press)

Sir Henry Irving: a Victorian actor and his world by Jeffrey Richards. (Hambledon and London).

The judges were:

Yvonne Brewster, theatre director and actress

Jan Macdonald Professor Emerita of Glasgow University former Chair of the Citizens Theatre and now its Vice President as well as Vice President (Arts and Humanities) of the Royal Society of Edinburgh

Ruth Leon, critic, columnist and writer