William Dalrymple (historian)
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William Dalrymple (born William Hamilton-Dalrymple on 20 March 1965) is a Delhi-based Scottish historian and art historian, as well as a curator, photographer, broadcaster and critic. He is also one of the co-founders and co-directors of the world's largest writers festival, the annual
Jaipur Literature Festival The Jaipur Literature Festival, or JLF, is an annual literary festival which takes place in the Indian city of Jaipur each year in the month of January. It was founded in 2006. It is the world's largest free literary festival. The Diggi Palace ...
. His books have won numerous awards and prizes, including the Wolfson Prize for History, the Duff Cooper Memorial Prize, the Hemingway, the Kapuściński, the Arthur Ross Medal of the US Council on Foreign Relations, the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award and the Sunday Times Young British Writer of the Year Award. He has been five times longlisted and once shortlisted for the
Baillie Gifford Prize The Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction, formerly the Samuel Johnson Prize, is an annual British book prize for the best non-fiction writing in the English language. It was founded in 1999 following the demise of the NCR Book Award. With its m ...
for non-fiction and was a Finalist for the Cundill Prize for History. The BBC television documentary on his pilgrimage to the source of the river
Ganges The Ganges ( ) (in India: Ganga ( ); in Bangladesh: Padma ( )). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international river to which India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China are the riparian states." is ...
, 'Shiva's Matted Locks', one of three episodes of his ''Indian Journeys'' series, which Dalrymple wrote and presented, won him the
Grierson Award The Grierson Awards are awards set up by The Grierson Trust to recognise innovative and exciting documentary films, created to commemorate the life and work of the pioneering Scottish documentary filmmaker John Grierson. The inaugural Awards w ...
for Best Documentary Series at BAFTA in 2002. In 2018, he was awarded the President's Medal of the
British Academy The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars span ...
, the Academy’s highest honour in its suite of prizes and medals awarded for "outstanding service to the cause of the humanities and social sciences." Dalrymple was the curator of ''Princes and Painters in Mughal Delhi 1707–1857'', a major show of the late Mughal painting for the ''
Asia Society The Asia Society is a non-profit organization that focuses on educating the world about Asia. It has several centers in the United States (Manhattan, Washington, D.C., Houston, Los Angeles, and San Francisco) and around the world (Hong Kong, Man ...
'' in New York, which ran from February to May 2012.Princes and Painters
Asia Society retrieved 4 October 2012.
A catalogue of this exhibit co-edited by Dalrymple with Yuthika Sharma was published by Penguin in 2012 under the same name. More recently he curated the exhibition of
Company style Company style, also known as Company painting or Patna painting (Hindi: ''kampani kalam'') is a term for a hybrid Indo-European style of paintings made in India by Indian artists, many of whom worked for European patrons in the East India Company ...
painting, ''Forgotten Masters: Indian Painting for the East India Company'', at the
Wallace Collection The Wallace Collection is a museum in London occupying Hertford House in Manchester Square, the former townhouse of the Seymour family, Marquesses of Hertford. It is named after Sir Richard Wallace, who built the extensive collection, along w ...
in London. In 2012, Dalrymple was appointed a Whitney J. Oates Visiting Fellow in the Humanities by
Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...
. In 2015, he was appointed the OP Jindal Distinguished Lecturer at
Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...
. He is also since 2021 an Honorary Fellow of the Bodleian Library and will soon take up a position as Visiting Fellow at All Souls College,
Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
He was named in the 2020 ''Prospect'' list of the top 50 thinkers for the COVID-19 era.


Personal life

Dalrymple is the son of
Sir Hew Hamilton-Dalrymple, 10th Baronet Sir Hew Fleetwood Hamilton-Dalrymple, 10th Baronet, (9 April 1926 – 26 December 2018) was a British soldier and Lord Lieutenant of East Lothian. Career Hamilton-Dalrymple was educated at Ampleforth College and joined the Grenadier Guards in 19 ...
of North Berwick, and Lady Anne-Louise Keppel, a daughter of the 9th Earl of Albemarle. He is a great nephew of
Virginia Woolf Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer, considered one of the most important modernist 20th-century authors and a pioneer in the use of stream of consciousness as a narrative device. Woolf was born i ...
. His brother, Jock, was a
first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...
er. He was educated at
Ampleforth College Ampleforth College is a co-educational independent day and boarding school in the English public school tradition located in the village of Ampleforth, North Yorkshire, England. It opened in 1802 as a boys' school, it is situated in the groun ...
and
Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...
, where he was first a history
exhibitioner An exhibition is a type of scholarship award or bursary. United Kingdom and Ireland At the universities of Dublin, Oxford, Cambridge and Sheffield, at some public schools, and various other UK educational establishments, an exhibition is a sma ...
and then a senior history scholar. Dalrymple first went to
Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...
on 26 January 1984, and has lived in India on and off since 1989 and spends most of the year at his
Mehrauli Mehrauli is a neighbourhood in South Delhi, a district of Delhi in India. It represents a constituency in the legislative assembly of Delhi. The area is close to Gurgaon and next to Vasant Kunj. History Mehrauli is one of the seven medieva ...
farmhouse in the outskirts of Delhi, but summers in London and Edinburgh. His wife, Olivia, is an artist and comes from a family with long-standing connections to India. The couple have three children. Through his wife's side of the family, he is related to Scottish actress
Rose Leslie Rose Eleanor Arbuthnot-Leslie (born 9 February 1987) is a Scottish actress who rose to fame as Gwen Dawson in the ITV drama series ''Downton Abbey'' and Ygritte in the HBO fantasy series ''Game of Thrones''. She starred as Maia Rindell for t ...
.


Interests and influence

Dalrymple's interests include the history and art of
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
,
Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
,
Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
, the Middle East,
Hinduism Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...
,
Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...
, the
Jains Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four tirthankaras (supreme preachers of ''Dharma''), with the first in the current time cycle being ...
and early
Eastern Christianity Eastern Christianity comprises Christian traditions and church families that originally developed during classical and late antiquity in Eastern Europe, Southeastern Europe, Asia Minor, the Caucasus, Northeast Africa, the Fertile Crescent and ...
. Every one of his ten books have won literary prizes. His first three were travel books based on his journeys in the Middle East, India and Central Asia. His early influences included travel writers such as
Robert Byron Robert Byron (26 February 1905 – 24 February 1941) was a British travel writer, best known for his travelogue ''The Road to Oxiana''. He was also a noted writer, art critic and historian. Biography He was the son of Eric Byron, a civil engi ...
,
Eric Newby George Eric Newby (6 December 1919 – 20 October 2006) was an English travel writer. His works include '' A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush'', ''The Last Grain Race'' and '' A Small Place in Italy''. Early life Newby was born in Barnes, London, ...
, and
Bruce Chatwin Charles Bruce Chatwin (13 May 194018 January 1989) was an English travel writer, novelist and journalist. His first book, ''In Patagonia'' (1977), established Chatwin as a travel writer, although he considered himself instead a storyteller, i ...
. Dalrymple published a book of essays about current affairs in the Indian subcontinent, and four award-winning histories of the interaction between the East India Company and the peoples of India and Afghanistan between the eighteenth and mid-nineteenth century, his "Company Quartet". His books have been translated into more than 40 languages. He is a regular contributor to ''
The New York Review of Books ''The New York Review of Books'' (or ''NYREV'' or ''NYRB'') is a semi-monthly magazine with articles on literature, culture, economics, science and current affairs. Published in New York City, it is inspired by the idea that the discussion of i ...
'', ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', the ''
New Statesman The ''New Statesman'' is a British political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney and Beatrice Webb and other leading members ...
'' and ''
The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
''. He has also written many articles for ''Time'' magazine. He was the Indian Subcontinent correspondent of the ''
New Statesman The ''New Statesman'' is a British political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney and Beatrice Webb and other leading members ...
'' from 2004-2014. He attended the inaugural
Palestine Festival of Literature The Palestine Festival of Literature (PalFest) is an annual literary festival, founded in 2008, that takes place in cities across Palestine. History The festival was founded in 2008 with the stated mission of affirming "the power of cultur ...
in 2008 – giving readings and taking workshops in
Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
,
Ramallah Ramallah ( , ; ar, رام الله, , God's Height) is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank that serves as the ''de facto'' administrative capital of the State of Palestine. It is situated on the Judaean Mountains, north of Jerusale ...
and
Bethlehem Bethlehem (; ar, بيت لحم ; he, בֵּית לֶחֶם '' '') is a city in the central West Bank, Palestine, about south of Jerusalem. Its population is approximately 25,000,Amara, 1999p. 18.Brynen, 2000p. 202. and it is the capital o ...
. His 2009 book, ''Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in Modern India'', a study of some of the more esoteric forms of modern Indian, and especially Hindu, spirituality, was published by Bloomsbury, and like all his others, went to the number one slot on the Indian non-fiction best-seller list. Since its publication he has been touring the UK, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Australia, Holland and the US with a band consisting of some of the people featured in his book including
Sufis Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, r ...
,
Fakirs Fakir ( ar, فقیر, translit=faḳīr or ''faqīr'') is an Islamic term traditionally used for Sufi Muslim ascetics who renounce their worldly possessions and dedicate their lives to the worship of God. They do not necessarily renounce all ...
,
Bauls The Baul ( bn, বাউল) are a group of mystic minstrels of mixed elements of Sufism, Vaishnavism and Tantra from Bangladesh and the neighboring Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura and Assam's Barak Valley and Meghalaya. Bauls constitute ...
, Theveram hymn singers as well as a prison warder and part-time
Theyyam Theyyam (/ t̪eːjjəm/; romanised: ''teyyam'') are Hindu ritualistic dance forms practiced in northern Kerala and some parts of Karnataka. Theyyam is also known as Kaḷiyāṭṭaṁ or Tiṟa. Theyyam consists of traditions, rituals and c ...
dancer widely believed to incarnate the God
Vishnu Vishnu ( ; , ), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism. Vishnu is known as "The Preserver" within t ...
. ''Return of a King: The Battle for Afghanistan'', a history of the First Afghan War 1839–42, was published in India in December 2012,William Dalrymple`s book on first Anglo-Afghan war out in December
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in the UK in February 2013, and in the US in April 2013. Dalrymple's great-great-granduncle
Colin Mackenzie Colonel Colin Mackenzie CB (1754–8 May 1821) was Scottish army officer in the British East India Company who later became the first Surveyor General of India. He was a collector of antiquities and an orientalist. He surveyed southern India, ...
fought in the war and was briefly detained by the Afghans. Following the publication of the book Dalrymple was called to brief both the Afghan President
Hamid Karzai Hamid Karzai (; Pashto/ fa, حامد کرزی, , ; born 24 December 1957) is an Afghan statesman who served as the fourth president of Afghanistan from July 2002 to September 2014, including as the first elected president of the Islamic Repub ...
and the
White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...
on the lessons to be learned from Afghan history. His most recent book, published in 2019, is ''
The Anarchy The Anarchy was a civil war in England and Normandy between 1138 and 1153, which resulted in a widespread breakdown in law and order. The conflict was a war of succession precipitated by the accidental death of William Adelin, the only legiti ...
'', a history of the Indian Subcontinent during the period from 1739 to 1803, which saw the collapse of the Mughal imperial system, rise of the Maratha imperial confederacy, and the militarisation and rise of power of the
East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...
. It was long listed for the Baillie Gifford Prize 2019, and short listed for the Duke of Wellington medal for Military History, the Tata Book of the Year (Non-fiction) and the Historical Writers Association Book Award 2020. It was a Finalist for the Cundill Prize for History and won the 2020 Arthur Ross Bronze Medal from the US Council on Foreign Relations.


TV and radio

Dalrymple has written and presented the six-part television series ''Stones of the Raj'' (Channel 4, August 1997), the three-part ''Indian Journeys'' (BBC, August 2002) and ''Sufi Soul'' (Channel 4, Nov 2005). The six-part ''Stones of the Raj'' documents the stories behind some of British India's colonial architecture starting with ''Lahore'' (16 August 1997), ''Calcutta'' (23 August 1997), ''The French Connection'' (30 August 1997), ''The Fatal Friendship'' (6 September 1997), ''Surrey in Tibet'' (13 September 1997), and concluded with ''The Magnificent Ruin'' (20 September 1997). The trilogy of ''Indian Journeys'' consists of three one-hour episodes starting with ''Shiva’s Matted Locks'' which while tracing the source of the Ganga, takes Dalrymple on a journey to the Himalayas. The second part, ''City of Djinns'', is based on his travel book of the same name, takes a look at Delhi's history, and last ''Doubting Thomas'', which takes Dalrymple to the Indian states of
Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...
and
Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...
, where St Thomas, the Apostle of Jesus is closely associated. He has done a six-part history series ''The Long Search'' for Radio 4. In this series Dalrymple searches to discover the spiritual roots of the British Isles. Dalrymple says "In the course of my travels I often came across the assumption that intense spirituality was somehow the preserve of what many call 'the mystic East'... it's a misconception that has always irritated me as I've always regarded our own indigenous British traditions of spirituality as especially rich." The BBC broadcast a documentary on 3 September 2015 entitled ''Love and Betrayal in India: The White Mughal'', based on Dalrymple's book ''White Mughals''. Dalrymple was the historical consultant to ITV's 2019 series ''Beecham House''. In 2022, Dalrymple teamed up with journalist
Anita Anand Anita Anand (born May 20, 1967) is a Canadian lawyer and politician who serves as the minister of national defence since 2021. She has represented the riding of Oakville in the House of Commons since the 2019 federal election, sitting as ...
to create the podcast ''Empire'', the first series of which examines the British
East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...
and British involvement and influence on India. The pair had previously collaborated on the book '' Koh-i-Noor: The History of the World's Most Infamous Diamond''. The series went straight to the No.1 spot on both Apple and Spotify UK podcast charts, and had more than one third of a million downloads in its first fortnight.


Works

*''
In Xanadu ''In Xanadu: A Quest'' is a 1989 travel book by William Dalrymple (historian), William Dalrymple. Overview ''In Xanadu'' traces the path taken by Marco Polo from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem to the site of Shangdu, famed as ...
'' (1989) *'' City of Djinns: A Year in Delhi'' (1994) *'' From the Holy Mountain: A Journey in the Shadow of Byzantium'' (1997) *''
The Age of Kali ''The Age of Kali'' is a 1998 travel book by William Dalrymple. The book's theme is trouble in the Indian subcontinent and the Hindu belief in a time called the Kali Yuga when many problems will come to exist in the world. The book gives an ov ...
'' (1998) *''
White Mughals ''White Mughals'' is a 2002 history book by William Dalrymple. It is Dalrymple's fifth major book, and tells the true story of a love affair that took place in early nineteenth century Hyderabad between James Achilles Kirkpatrick and Khair-un-N ...
'' (2002) *'' The Last Mughal, The Fall of a Dynasty, Delhi 1857'' (2006) *'' Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in Modern India''. London, Bloomsbury. (2009) *'' Return of a King: The Battle for Afghanistan'' (2012) *''The Writer’s Eye'' (2016) Harper Collins India *'' Koh-i-Noor: The History of the World's Most Infamous Diamond'' (2017) *'' The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of the East India Company'' (2019) Editor *''Lonely Planet Sacred India''. Lonely Planet Publications, (1999) *'' Begums, Thugs & White Mughals: The Journals of Fanny Parkes'' (2002) *''Princes and Painters in Mughal Delhi 1707–1857''. Penguin Books India, (2012) *''Forgotten Masters: Indian Painting for the East India Company''. Philip Wilson Publishers, (2020)


Awards and honours

* ''In Xanadu'' received the 1990 ''
Yorkshire Post ''The Yorkshire Post'' is a daily broadsheet newspaper, published in Leeds in Yorkshire, England. It primarily covers stories from Yorkshire although its masthead carries the slogan "Yorkshire's National Newspaper". It was previously owned by ...
'' Best First Work Award and the
Scottish Arts Council The Scottish Arts Council ( gd, Comhairle Ealain na h-Alba, sco, Scots Airts Cooncil) was a Scottish public body responsible for the funding, development and promotion of the arts in Scotland. The Council primarily distributed funding from the ...
Spring Book Award. * ''City of Djinns'' received the 1994
Thomas Cook Travel Book Award The Thomas Cook Travel Book Award originated as an initiative of Thomas Cook AG in 1980, with the aim of encouraging and rewarding the art of literary travel writing. The awards stopped in 2005 (2004 being the last year an award was given). As of 2 ...
and the ''
Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...
'' Young British Writer of the Year Award. * ''From the Holy Mountain'' received the 1997
Scottish Arts Council The Scottish Arts Council ( gd, Comhairle Ealain na h-Alba, sco, Scots Airts Cooncil) was a Scottish public body responsible for the funding, development and promotion of the arts in Scotland. The Council primarily distributed funding from the ...
Autumn Book Award. * ''The Age of Kali'' (1998) won the 2005 French Prix d'Astrolabe. * ''White Mughals: Love & Betrayal in Eighteenth-Century India'' (2002) won the 2001
Wolfson Prize for History The Wolfson History Prizes are literary awards given annually in the United Kingdom to promote and encourage standards of excellence in the writing of history for the general public. Prizes are given annually for two or three exceptional works ...
. * Dalrymple was awarded the
Mungo Park Medal The Mungo Park Medal is awarded by the Royal Scottish Geographical Society in recognition of outstanding contributions to geographical knowledge through exploration and/or research, and/or work of a practical nature of benefit to humanity in potent ...
in 2002 by the
Royal Scottish Geographical Society The Royal Scottish Geographical Society (RSGS) is an educational charity based in Perth, Scotland founded in 1884. The purpose of the society is to advance the subject of geography worldwide, inspire people to learn more about the world around ...
for his outstanding contribution to
travel literature The genre of travel literature encompasses outdoor literature, guide books, nature writing, and travel memoirs. One early travel memoirist in Western literature was Pausanias, a Greek geographer of the 2nd century CE. In the early modern period ...
. * The television series ''Stones of the Raj'' and ''Indian Journeys'', which Dalrymple wrote and presented, won him the
Grierson Award The Grierson Awards are awards set up by The Grierson Trust to recognise innovative and exciting documentary films, created to commemorate the life and work of the pioneering Scottish documentary filmmaker John Grierson. The inaugural Awards w ...
for Best Documentary Series at BAFTA in 2002. * ''The Long Search'', Dalrymple's
BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...
series on the history of British
spirituality The meaning of ''spirituality'' has developed and expanded over time, and various meanings can be found alongside each other. Traditionally, spirituality referred to a religious process of re-formation which "aims to recover the original shape o ...
and
mysticism Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute, but may refer to any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or spiritual meaning. It may also refer to the attainment of insight in u ...
, won the 2002 Sandford St Martin Prize for Religious Broadcasting and was described by the judges as "thrilling in its brilliance...near perfect radio." * ''White Mughals: Love & Betrayal in Eighteenth-Century India'' (2002) won the 2003 Scottish Book of the Year Prize. * Dalrymple's article on ''
madrasas Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , pl. , ) is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whether for elementary instruction or higher learning. The word is variously transliterated '' ...
'' of Pakistan was awarded the prize for Best Print Article of the Year at the 2005 FPA Media Awards. * The Sykes Medal in 2005 from the
Royal Society for Asian Affairs The Royal Society for Asian Affairs (RSAA) is a learned society based in London (United Kingdom). Its objective is to advance public knowledge and understanding of Asia through its worldwide networks, its public events, its publications and its s ...
for his contribution "to understanding (of) contemporary Islam." * An
Honorary Doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...
of Letters, Honoris Causa, from the
University of St. Andrews (Aien aristeuein) , motto_lang = grc , mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best , established = , type = Public research university Ancient university , endowment ...
in 2006 "for his services to literature and international relations, to broadcasting and understanding." * ''The Last Mughal'' won the Duff Cooper Memorial Prize for History and Biography in February 2007. * Dalrymple received an
Honorary Doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...
of Letters, Honoris Causa, from the
University of Lucknow The University of Lucknow (informally known as Lucknow University, and LU) is a public state university based in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. Founded in 1920, the University of Lucknow is one of the oldest government owned institutions of higher edu ...
in 2007 "for his outstanding contribution in literature and history." * ''The Last Mughal'' won the 2007
Vodafone Crossword Book Award The Crossword Book Award (formerly known as the Crossword Book Award (1998–2003), the Hutch Crossword Book Award (2004–07), the Vodafone Crossword Book Award (2008–10), the Economist Crossword Book Award (2011–13), Raymond & Crossword Bo ...
for best work in English non-fiction. * An
Honorary Doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...
of Letters, Honoris Causa, from the
University of Aberdeen The University of Aberdeen ( sco, University o' 'Aiberdeen; abbreviated as ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; gd, Oilthigh Obar Dheathain) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Sc ...
(2008). * The 2008 Colonel James Tod Award given by the Maharana Mewar Foundation for achieving excellence in his field. * ''Nine Lives'' received the 2010 Asia House Award for Asian Literature. * The Media Citizen Puraskar by the Indian Confederation of NGOs for emphasising as an author issues of global importance and concern. *
Honorary Doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...
from the
University of Bradford The University of Bradford is a Public university, public research university located in the city of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. A plate glass university, it received its royal charter in 1966, making it the 40th university to be creat ...
for his contributions to creative writing, literature and the Indian Subcontinent history fields (2012). * Honorary Doctorate of Letters from the
University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...
. * The 2015 Hemingway Prize for ''Return of a King''. * The 2015 Kapuściński Prize for ''Return of a King''. *Elected a Corresponding Fellow of the
Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...
. *Elected a
Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society Fellows of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland are individuals who have been elected by the Council of the Royal Asiatic Society to further "the investigation of subjects connected with and for the encouragement of science lite ...
. * He was awarded the President's Medal of the
British Academy The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars span ...
"for his literary achievements and for co-founding Jaipur Literary Festival". * He was awarded the 2022 Minerva Medal of the
Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow The Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow is a learned society established in 1802 "''for the improvement of the Arts and Sciences''" in the city of Glasgow, Scotland. It runs a programme of lectures, starting its 220th Series in October 2021. ...
for his contribution to the writing of history * Elected Fellow of the
Royal Historical Society The Royal Historical Society, founded in 1868, is a learned society of the United Kingdom which advances scholarly studies of history. Origins The society was founded and received its royal charter in 1868. Until 1872 it was known as the Histori ...


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William Dalrymple's Home PageIslamophobia
Article by William Dalrymple {{DEFAULTSORT:Dalrymple, William 1965 births 21st-century Scottish historians Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge British expatriates in India Historians of India Indian travel writers Living people Fellows of the Royal Asiatic Society Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature Historians of colonialism People educated at Ampleforth College 20th-century Scottish historians Scottish Roman Catholics Scottish travel writers Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society Recipients of the President's Medal (British Academy) Younger sons of baronets Brown University faculty The New Yorker people