Charles Nicholl is a historian, biographer and travel writer. His books include The Reckoning (winner of the James Tait Black prize for biography and the Crime Writers' Association 'Gold Dagger' award for non-fiction), Somebody Else: Arthur Rimbaud in Africa (winner of the Hawthornden Prize) and the acclaimed biography, Leonardo da Vinci: The Flights of the Mind, which has been published in 17 languages. His most recent book is The Lodger: Shakespeare on Silver Street, which was nominated as 'Book of the Year' 12 times in 2007. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and has lectured in Britain, Italy and the United States.