Bart van Es (born 7 June 1972,

Ede, Netherlands Ede () is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and a town in the centre of the Netherlands, in the province of Gelderland. Ede had 119,186 inhabitants. Population centres Community: * Bennekom * De Klomp * Deelen * Ede (town) * E ...

) is a literary critic and writer. He is a professor of English at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

, where he is also a senior tutor and fellow of St Catherine's College. Van Es was born in the Netherlands and lived in Norway, Dubai and Indonesia before his family settled in the United Kingdom in 1986. He studied English at

Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge Fitzwilliam College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college traces its origins back to 1869 and the foundation of the Non-Collegiate Students Board, a venture intended to offer academically excellent students of all ...

, and gained his doctorate from

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

in 2000; his thesis title was "Forms of history in the works of Edmund Spenser". His scholarly interests chiefly lie in the works of the English poet

Edmund Spenser Edmund Spenser (; 1552/1553 – 13 January 1599) was an English poet best known for ''The Faerie Queene'', an epic poem and fantastical allegory celebrating the Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth I. He is recognized as one of the premier craftsmen of ...

. He is the author of ''Spenser's Forms of History'' and editor of ''A Critical Companion to Spenser Studies''. He has also published work on

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

, including a recent investigation of Shakespeare's relationship with the players of the King's Men. His 2018 book ''The Cut Out Girl: A Story of War and Family, Lost and Found,'' won the overall

Costa Book of the Year The Costa Book Awards were a set of annual literary awards recognising English-language books by writers based in UK and Ireland. Originally named the Whitbread Book Awards from 1971 to 2005 after its first sponsor, the Whitbread company, then ...

award for 2018, after winning the Costa Biography of the Year award. The book tells the true story of Lien de Jong, who as a young Jewish girl was fostered by van Es's grandparents for safety in the occupied Netherlands in 1942. The judges described it as "sensational and gripping... shedding light on some of the most urgent issues of our time". He stood for

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

in the 2022 Oxford City Council election. He was on the shortlist to be Labour candidate for

Southampton Itchen Southampton, Itchen is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by Royston Smith, a Conservative member of parliament. Discounting the Speaker (of the House of Commons) returned in the early 1970s in two ...

at the

2024 United Kingdom general election The 2024 United Kingdom general election is scheduled to be held on Thursday, 4 July 2024. It will determine the composition of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, which determines the Government of the United Kingdom. ...

Selected publications

*''Spenser's Forms of History'' (2002, Oxford UP – based on his Cambridge doctoral thesis) *''A Critical Companion to Spenser Studies'' (edited, 2006, Palgrave Macmillan: ) *''Shakespeare in Company'' (2013, Oxford UP, ) *''Shakespeare’s Comedies: A Very Short Introduction'' (2016, Oxford UP: ) *''The Cut Out Girl: A Story of War and Family, Lost and Found,'' (Penguin, 2018, )

References

External links

* 1972 births Living people Alumni of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge Fellows of St Catherine's College, Oxford Scholars of English literature Es, Bart van Es, Bart van Labour Party (UK) politicians {{UK-academic-bio-stub