Bill Bryson

Bill Bryson (born 1951) is an American-born writer of travel, language and popular science books who has lived mostly in Britain since the 1970s. He was born William McGuire Bryson in Des Moines, Iowa, on 8 December 1951, settled in England in 1977 and took British citizenship in 2014.

He worked as a journalist in Britain, starting at the Bournemouth Evening Echo and later serving as chief copy editor of the business section of The Times and deputy national news editor of the business section of The Independent. His books include The Lost Continent (1989), The Mother Tongue (1990), Notes from a Small Island (1995), A Walk in the Woods (1997), A Short History of Nearly Everything (2003) and The Body: A Guide for Occupants (2019). In 2003 BBC Radio 4 listeners voted Notes from a Small Island the book that best represents England. A Short History of Nearly Everything won the Aventis Prize in 2004 and the Descartes Prize in 2005. He received an honorary OBE in 2006, served as Chancellor of Durham University from 2005 to 2011 and became an honorary Fellow of the Royal Society in 2013. His books have sold more than 16 million copies.

For collectors, Notes from a Small Island is the most closely associated with Britain; its first edition was published by Doubleday in Britain in 1995, with William Morrow as the American publisher. A Short History of Nearly Everything (2003), winner of both the Aventis and Descartes prizes, is his most decorated book.