Clair Wills, , is a British academic specialising in 20th-century British and Irish

cultural history Cultural history records and interprets past events involving human beings through the social, cultural, and political milieu of or relating to the arts and manners that a group favors. Jacob Burckhardt (1818–1897) helped found cultural history ...

and literature. Since 2019, she has been King Edward VII Professor of English Literature at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

and a

fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

Murray Edwards College, Cambridge Murray Edwards College is a women-only constituent college of the University of Cambridge. It was founded in 1954 as New Hall and renamed in 2008. The name honours a gift of £30 million by alumna Ros Edwards and her husband Steve, and the firs ...

. After studying at the

Somerville College, Oxford Somerville College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. It began admitting men in 1994. The colle ...

, she taught at the

University of Essex The University of Essex is a public university, public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, it is one of the original plate glass university, plate glass universities. The university comprises three camp ...

and

Queen Mary University of London Queen Mary University of London (QMUL, or informally QM, and formerly Queen Mary and Westfield College) is a public university, public research university in Mile End, East London, England. It is a member institution of the federal University ...

. She was then Leonard L. Milberg ’53 Chair of Irish Letters at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

from 2015 to 2019, before moving to Cambridge.

Honours

In 2016, Wills was elected an Honorary Member of the Royal Irish Academy (HonMRIA). In July 2020, she was elected a

Fellow of the British Academy Fellowship of the British Academy (post-nominal letters FBA) is an award granted by the British Academy to leading academics for their distinction in the humanities and social sciences. The categories are: # Fellows – scholars resident in t ...

(FBA), the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and social sciences. In 2008, Wills was awarded the

Hessell-Tiltman Prize The PEN Hessell-Tiltman Prize is awarded to the best work of non-fiction of historical content covering a period up to and including World War II, and published in the year of the award. The books are to be of high literary merit, but not primari ...

for her book ''That Neutral Island: A cultural history of Ireland during the Second World War'' (2007). In 2018, she was shortlisted for the

Orwell Prize The Orwell Prize is a British prize for political writing. The Prize is awarded by The Orwell Foundation, an independent charity (Registered Charity No 1161563, formerly "The Orwell Prize") governed by a board of trustees. Four prizes are award ...

for her book ''Lovers and Strangers: An Immigrant History of Post-War Britain'' (2017).

Selected works

* * * * * * * ''Missing Persons, Or My Grandmother's Secrets.'' London: Allen Lane. 2024. ISBN 9780241640951.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wills, Clair Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 20th-century British non-fiction writers 20th-century British women writers 21st-century British non-fiction writers 21st-century British women writers Academics of Queen Mary University of London Academics of the University of Essex Cultural historians Alumni of Somerville College, Oxford Fellows of Murray Edwards College, Cambridge Fellows of the British Academy Honorary members of the Royal Irish Academy King Edward VII Professors of English Literature Literary historians Princeton University faculty