Mathew Lyons

From www.mathewlyons.co.uk:

Mathew is a writer and historian based in East London. He studied English Language and Literature at Leeds University, where he went on to take an MA in Renaissance Literature. He is also a fellow of the Royal Hitorical Society.

His last book, The Favourite, was the first book-length exploration of the love affair between Walter Raleigh and Elizabeth I. Helen Castor, author of She-Wolves, chose it as one of her books of the year.

His previous book, Impossible Journeys, a collection of travellers’ tales about journeys to places that do not exist, was compared by The Guardian to a ‘non-fiction Calvino’. Prior to that, he wrote There and Back Again: In the Footsteps of JRR Tolkien, described by Professor Tom Shippey as ‘an excellent guide not only to Tolkien’s actual real-life physical environment, but also to his deepest feelings about England, about landscape, about history and prehistory’.

Mathew currently writes the Months Past column for History Today. He has written or reviewed for a wide range of other publications including the Financial Times, the Times Literary Supplement, BBC History, Slightly Foxed, The Stage, The Author, Literary Review, The Quietus, The Economist, The Critic, The Tablet, The Times, Renaissance Studies, Catholic Herald, All About History, New Humanist, and The Chap. His poems have been published by Reliquiae, Atrium, Dawn Treader, Bad Lilies, The Interpreter’s House, Under the Radar, and Ink, Sweat and Tears, among others.

Mathew has been profiled in The Yorkshire Post and The Herald in Scotland. His media appearances include Sky News, ITN, CBC, BBC Radio London (Robert Elms), LBC (Sandi Toksvig), and a wide range of regional radio stations including BBC Radio Wiltshire, BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cornwall, BBC Radio Gloucestershire, BBC Radio Oxford, BBC Radio Jersey, BBC Radio Bristol and BBC Radio Manchester (GMR).

He has spoken at the London Book Fair, Words on the Water, Chiswick Book Festival, Sharjah International Book Fair, Essex University, Bath Spa University, and numerous local history, library and book-shop events.

He also performed in the Dolphin’s Back production of Marlowe’s Massacre At Paris at the Rose Playhouse, as well as at the History Show-Off stand-up evening and at Wunderkammer, hosted by the Do Not Adjust Your Stage improv group.