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 mountains. My eventual decision was that I did, but I wanted to do it properly, to learn the competencies to operate independently in the high mountains under snow. The book blends memoir, travelogue and history along with an exploration of the life of Swiss explorer, skier and travel writer Ella Maillart.

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, Antony Beevor, Antonia Fraser, Niall Ferguson and Max Hastings, novelists Anne Enright, Mark Haddon, Ian Rankin, Joanne Harris and Jeffrey Archer, journalists Sirin Kale, Patrick Radden Keefe and Hadley Freeman, and the editors of the Financial Times, the Times Literary Supplement, Cosmopolitan, Hello! and British GQ. In 2022 we published an advice-led book for aspirant writers based on the podcast interviews.

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 air crashes in the Alps.

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 New York.

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 of interviews, this book is a strikingly rich, nuanced portrait of one of our pivotal national institutions in a time of great stress. This is as much a book about Britain, and about the politics of failure, as it is about the military.‘A “state-of-the-nation” book of resounding power, deep conviction and far-reaching significance.’ Richard Davenport-Hines, Times Literary Supplement Books of the Year, 2021’[An] excellent and valuable book.’ Jason Burke, The Guardian Winner, the Templer First Book Award 2021‘A valuable addition to analysing the past, present, and future of a venerated institution.’The Independent‘This book is about much more than the army in Afghanistan — it is a parable about failure, the failure of a revered institution, with a proud history and an uncritical public, to come to terms with a changed and changing world.’Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles, former British ambassador to Afghanistan ‘Detailed and well structured.’ Anthony Loyd, New Statesman ‘This brave, absorbing, and prodigiously well-researched tour de force renders every previous account of the British Army in its disastrous recent campaigns obsolete.’ Frank Ledwidge, author of Losing Small Wars ‘The military would obviously like to avoid a close examination of this unbroken string of catastrophes, but Akam’s book is a gentle account — critical, but not unsympathetic.’Tom Stevenson, London Review of Books ‘Looks at the changes the British Army has undergone and roles it has played as an almost volunteer sidekick to the American military in the war on terror.’C.J. Chivers, The New York Times

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