Ros Barber

Ros Barber is a British novelist and poet born in 1964 in Washington DC to British parents. She studied English at Cambridge University and has taught creative writing at the University of Sussex and Goldsmiths. She has published several poetry collections including Material (2008) and co-edits the journal Mortality. The Marlowe Papers (2012, Sceptre) is her debut novel, written entirely in iambic pentameter and narrated by Christopher Marlowe, arguing that he faked his own death in 1593 and spent the rest of his life writing under the name William Shakespeare. Combining Shakespearean scholarship, wit, and formal ambition, the novel won the Desmond Elliott Prize in 2013 and the Authors' Club Best First Novel Award. Barber is also known for her research into the Shakespeare authorship question and has written nonfiction on the subject. She is a Marlowe authorship theorist, and The Marlowe Papers represents the fullest literary expression of that position.