One of the world's most widely read historians, Simon Schama is University Professor of Art History and History at Columbia University. Schama has been described as a "scholar-artist [who]...marries jewel-like colouring of character, place and period with the iron grip of a strong pulsed narrative".  His influential books include A History of Britain, Landscape and Memory, and Rough Crossings.   He was joined at NZ Post Writers & Readers Week by Sean Plunket.