Stephen Greenblatt

Biography

Stephen Greenblatt is Cogan University Professor of the Humanities at Harvard University. He is the author of fifteen books, including Tyrant: Shakespeare on Politics; The Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve; The Swerve: How the World Became Modern (winner of the 2011 National Book Award and the 2012 Pulitzer Prize) and Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare. He is General Editor of The Norton Anthology of English Literature and of The Norton Shakespeare, has edited seven collections of criticism, and is a founding coeditor of the journal Representations. He was named the 2016 Holberg Prize Laureate. His honors include the MLA’s James Russell Lowell Prize, the William Shakespeare Award for Classical Theatre, two Guggenheim Fellowships, and the Distinguished Humanist Award from the Mellon Foundation. He was president of the Modern Language Association of America and has been elected to membership in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the American Philosophical Society, the Italian literary academy Accademia degli Arcadi, and is a fellow of the British Academy.

Honors & Awards

Literary and Academic Prizes

  • Holberg Prize Laureate (2016)
  • Pulitzer Prize, General Nonfiction (2012)
  • National Book Award, Nonfiction (2011)
  • William Shakespeare Award for Classical Theatre, The Shakespeare Theatre, Washington, DC (2005)
  • James Russell Lowell Prize of the Modern Language Association (1989) (for Shakespearean Negotiations)
  • First annual British Council Prize in the Humanities (1981)

Award Finalist Nominations

  • Finalist, Pulitzer Prize, Biography (2004)
  • Finalist, National Book Award, Nonfiction (2004)
  • Finalist, National Book Critic Circle Award, Biography/​Autobiography (2004)
  • Finalist, Los Angeles Times Book Prize, Biography (2004)
  • Finalist, The Quills, Biography (2005)
  • Finalist, George Freedley Memorial Award, Theatre Library Association (2004)
  • Finalist, Julia Ward Howe Prize, Boston Authors Club (2004)

Memberships and Fellowships

  • Membership to the Order Pour le Mérite for Sciences and the Arts (forthcoming 2025)
  • Corresponding Fellow of The British Academy (2019)
  • Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
  • Honorary Corresponding Fellow conferred by The English Association, United Kingdom, for distinguished achievement in the field of English studies

Honorary Doctorates and Degrees

  • Honorary Doctor, Universidad Complutense Madrid, Madrid, Spain (2024)
  • Honorary Doctor, University of Alicante, Alicante, Spain (2016)
  • PhD in Visual Arts: Philosophy, Aesthetics, and Art Theory, Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts (2016)
  • Doctor honoris causa, Bucharest University (2006)
  • Doctor of Literature, Queen Mary College, University of London (2002)

Distinguished Professorships and Visiting Positions

  • Visiting Professorship in Museums, Galleries and Libraries, University of Oxford (2015)
  • Jeannette K. Watson Distinguished Visiting Professor in the Humanities, Syracuse University (2001)
  • Frederick Ives Carpenter Visiting Professorship, University of Chicago (1989)
  • Ida Beam Professor, University of Iowa (1989)
  • University of Bologna, 900th Anniversary Celebration Professor (1988)
  • Visiting Fellow of the Council of the Humanities and the Department of English, Princeton University (1986)

Named Lectures at Major Institutions (Last 10 Years)

  • Martin Buber Memorial Lecture, The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Jerusalem, Israel (2024)
  • Bloom Lecture, Barnard College (2023)
  • Anthony Hecht Lectures, Bard College (2022)
  • Natalie Zemon Davis Lectures, Central European University, Vienna (2022)
  • Sigmund H. Danziger Jr. Distinguished Lecture Series, The University of Chicago (2015)
  • Jerome S. Cardin Memorial Lecture, Loyola University Maryland (2015)
  • Mosse Lecture Series, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany (2015)
  • Institute for Humanities Research Distinguished Lecturer, Arizona State University (2014)

Named Lectures at Major Institutions (Pre-2014)

  • Campbell Lectures, Rice University, Houston (2008)
  • Leslie Stephen Lecture, Trinity Hall, Cambridge (2007)
  • Haley Lecturer, Phillips Exeter Academy, New Hampshire (2007)
  • Stanley Fish Lecture, University of Illinois at Chicago (2007)
  • Jane Ruby Humanities Lecturer, Wheaton College, MA (2007)
  • Adorno-Vorlesungen, Institut für Sozialforschung, Frankfurt (2006)
  • Theo Crosby Memorial Lecture, Globe Theatre, London (2004)
  • Lionel Trilling Seminar, Columbia University, speaker (2003)
  • Plenary Address, The Shakespeare Symposium, Bath, England (2003)
  • James Thin Lecture, University of Edinburgh (2000)
  • Elizabeth Drew Memorial Lecture, Bread Loaf School of English (2000)
  • Virginia F. Stern Lecture in Renaissance Literature, Columbia University (2000)
  • Oklahoma Lecture in the Humanities (2000)
  • Wellek Lectures, Yale University (1991)
  • Clarendon Lectures, Oxford University (1988)

Leadership and Distinguished Service Roles

  • Presidential Address, MLA Annual Convention (2002)
  • Chair, Presidential Forum, MLA (2002)
  • Chair, Annual Meeting of English Department Chairs, MLA (2002)
  • Plenary Address, ​“After the New Historicism”, University of London (1998)
  • Faculty Research Lecturer, University of California, Berkeley (1995−96)
  • Chairman’s Forum: National Endowment for the Humanities, Washington, D.C. (1995)
  • Plenary Address, Fifth World Shakespeare Congress, Tokyo (1991)

Academic Teaching and University Awards

  • Wilbur Cross Medal, Yale University (2010)
  • Mellon Distinguished Humanist Award (2002)
  • Erasmus Institute Prize (2002)
  • Distinguished Teaching Award, University of California, Berkeley
  • Independent Publisher Book Award for Biography (2005)
  • Teaching citation, Primer (Associated Students of the University of California, 1976)
  • John Addison Porter Prize, Yale University (for the most distinguished doctoral dissertation in the humanities and social sciences, 1969)
  • Yale Undergraduate: summa cum laude; Phi Beta Kappa; Honors with Exceptional Distinction in English; Calhoun College Fellows Cup for Academic Distinction; Lloyd Mifflin Prize for Literary Criticism.

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Stephen Greenblatt

Photo by Luke Holwerda

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