Books by Peter Ackroyd
Peter Ackroyd is an award-winning novelist, broadcaster, biographer, poet and historian. He is the author of London Under and the bestselling London: The Biography and Thames: Sacred River. He has won a number of accolades including the Whitbread Biography Award, the Royal Society of Literature’s William Heinemann Award, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, the Guardian Fiction Prize and the Somerset Maugham Award. He holds a CBE for services to literature
“It was published in the late 1990s. But I think it still stands as the best biography to read, because not only is it meticulous and clearly written to set a standard for any subsequent attempt at a biography. But I love Ackroyd’s biography because he’s not afraid of the supernatural side of Blake. It’s full of detail about where he lived, and how he was immersed in the Georgian period, but doesn’t shy away from Blake’s life with angels and his communications with the dead. He explores the spiritual and religious milieu of the times of which Blake was a part and that is quite distinctive from subsequent books on the whole.” Read more...
The best books on William Blake
Mark Vernon, Biographer
Interviews with Peter Ackroyd
The Best London Books, recommended by Peter Ackroyd
The historian and biographer of London Peter Ackroyd picks five books that shine a light on parts of this vast, complex and confusing city where, he says, pathos and pantomime meet.
Interviews where books by Peter Ackroyd were recommended
The best books on William Blake, recommended by Mark Vernon
Visionary, mystic, poet, etcher: the English artist William Blake (1757-1827) developed his own, highly distinct, style—but he was also in conversation with the artistic currents of his day, explains Mark Vernon, the author of a new philosophical exploration of Blake’s work. Here he highlights five books that will help you gain an understanding of William Blake’s life, work, and spiritual life.
