The Royal Historical Society (RHS) is the UK’s largest membership organisation for historians of all kinds, and from all walks of life — held in high regard by historians internationally, and a partner to many similar organisations overseas. This year Dr Chris Laoutaris joins a cohort of 57 Fellows, 42 Associate Fellows, 49 Members and 106 Postgraduate Members, a total of 254 people newly associated with the Society this December.
I'm delighted to have been elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. I am looking forward to becoming involved with a community which does such vital advocacy work for historical researchers, authors, and teachers, and which works tirelessly to improve and expand opportunities for people in these fields from all walks of life and from all backgrounds. It is a privilege to be affiliated with the RHS and I'm incredibly grateful to them and to Tracy Borman for generously supporting my Fellowship application. How we tell our shared histories matters, not just for us today but for the future generations who will be the beneficiaries of the legacies we, as historical researchers, establish. The RHS is dedicated towards cultivating equality and equity in the field of historical enquiry.
Dr Chris Laoutaris - Associate Professor at the Shakespeare Institute, University of Birmingham.
Dr Chris Laoutaris is a biographer, historian, poet, Shakespeare scholar and Associate Professor at The Shakespeare Institute at the University of Birmingham, in Shakespeare’s birthplace of Stratford-Upon-Avon. He is the author of Shakespeare’s Book: The Intertwined Lives Behind the Fist Folio, published by HarperCollins’ William Collins imprint, which tells the story of the creation of the 1623 First Folio, and which is a BBC History Magazine Book of the Year, a BBC Radio 4 Front Row Non-Fiction Book of the Year, and a Financial Times Best Summer Book.
In addition to numerous academic publications, he has published Shakespeare and the Countess: The Battle that Gave Birth to the Globe (Penguin), which was shortlisted for the Tony Lothian Prize for Biography, was an Observer Book of the Year, Telegraph Book of the Year, one of the New York Post’s ‘Must-Read Books’, and one of the Daily Telegraph’s top ten.
Founded in 1868, the Royal Historical Society (RHS) is a successful learned society, membership organisation and charity with a 150 year history. Today, the RHS is the UK’s foremost society working for historians and history.
The majority of the new Fellows hold academic appointments at universities, specialising in a very wide range of fields; but also include museum curators, archivists, heritage consultants, and independent researchers and writers. The Society is an international community of historians and our latest intake includes Fellows from ten countries: Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Israel, Italy, Norway, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and United States.
