Simon Akam Email & Phone Number

Under contract with HarperCollins imprint William Collins in the UK and Grove Atlantic in North America to write "Snowlines - Uphill Skiing and the Utility of Fear", a book about ski mountaineering. After a narrow escape in a rock fall and avalanche on a ski mountaineering expedition to Mount Elbrus in 2017, I had to decide if I wanted to keep going to the.

London, England, United Kingdom

Co-hosted by Simon Akam and Rachel Lloyd, Always Take Notes is a podcast for and about writers and writing that aims to be informative (tackling vexing questions including how to negotiate fees, what makes an excellent book pitch and how to write for TV). We aim for a deliberately broad church, and past guests have included historians Peter Frankopan.

London, United Kingdom

Wrote major (5,000 word+) feature stories for 1843 magazine, the part of the Economist that publishes longer articles. Extensively covered the coronavirus pandemic, winning a Medical Journalists' Association award in 2021 and securing a shortlisting for the Orwell Prize. Other assignments included the Serious Fraud Office, the future of heart surgery, and.

US, Middle East, Africa, UK

Contributor to publications including the Economist, the Guardian, the New Yorker, the London Review of Books, GQ, Bloomberg Businessweek, Outside, the New York Times and the Financial Times. Filed news stories, features articles and reviews up to 18,000 words. Topics ranged from longform profiles of West Africa ex-warlords to the secondhand book trade in.

Over the first two decades of the twenty-first century the British Army fought in Iraq and Afghanistan, at considerable financial and human cost. Yet neither war achieved its objectives. Award-winning journalist Simon Akam asks why, and provides challenging but necessary answers. Composed from assiduous documentary research, field reportage, and hundreds.

London, United Kingdom

Contracted to write five longform reportage pieces per year for the re-launched version of the magazine, with a brief to reinvent the ‘New Journalism’ of the 1960s. Stories include the impact of the Iraq and Afghan wars on the British Army, a plastic surgeons’ convention in Monte Carlo and the response of the tobacco industry to electronic cigarettes.

West Africa

Wrote both news and features from the post-conflict West African country. Covered the 2012 presidential election, corruption, security sector reform, mining and the conviction of Charles Taylor. Filed acclaimed photographs. Also made five reporting trips to neighbouring Liberia and other travel to Ivory Coast, Mali, Guinea, the Gambia and Senegal.

Greater New York City Area

Worked in New York during after finishing Columbia course. Wrote daily hard news and extended features assignments. Made the front page twice. Also contributed to the Sunday book review and travel sections. Later reported for the New York Times from Sierra Leone, Liberia and Ivory Coast.

Ba, English

Activities and Societies: Cherwell, the Oxford Student.

Msc, Journalism

Studied at Columbia University Graduate School of journalism as recipient of Alistair Cooke memorial Fulbright scholarship.

Education record