Mary Beard is a renowned classicist and the author of many books on the ancient world, including SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the forthcoming (October 2023) Emperor of Rome: Ruling the Ancient Roman World. She has been called “a celebrity, a national treasure, and easily the world’s most famous classicist,” and in 2018 she was made a Dame in the Queen’s Birthday Honors List. Well-known for her television work, she has presented programs including Meet the Romans with Mary Beard and Civilisations. Beard contributes regularly to the New York Review of Books, and is the classics editor for Times Literary Supplement, where she also writes her popular blog, A Don’s Life. She was a professor of classics at Newnham College, University of Cambridge before retiring in 2022. She lives in England.