Subscribe or Log In to Anytime
Access audio & film from your favourite writers and thinkers
Give the gift of Anytime
Treat someone to a Hay Festival Anytime subscription

Garry J Shaw

The Story of Tutankhamun: An Intimate Life of the Boy who Became King

Winter Weekend 2022, 

The discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in November 1922 sparked imaginations across the globe. While Howard Carter emptied its treasures, Tut-mania gripped the world – and in many ways, has never left. But who was the ‘boy king’, and what was his life really like?

This illustrated biography uses the most up-to-date research to present Tutankhamun as a person, rather than as a distant god-king or a symbol of ancient Egypt. The compelling narrative weaves together numerous intriguing details from the boy king’s treasures and possessions – from a lock of his grandmother’s hair to a reed cut with his own hands – to reveal the life of this enigmatic figure.

Shaw is a journalist and author of The Pharaoh: Life at Court and on Campaign, The Egyptian Myths: A Guide to the Ancient Gods and Legends, and Egyptian Mythology.