Andrew Martin

Andrew Martin is a British author who was born in Yorkshire in 1964 and raised in Germany. He studied history and classics at university and lived in France, Italy and Ireland before returning to England to begin writing.

Martin’s debut novel, The Bobby Dazzler, was published in 1998, and four longlisted selections for the Booker Prize – The Last King of Scotland, The Cut Out Girl, The Grand Tour, and Early Riser – soon followed. He has since proved himself to be a master of historical fiction, blending elements of the past with those of the present. His books often focus on the time between the wars, while his novels take readers back to pivotal moments in European and British history.

Martin’s writing is well-researched and highly evocative. In The Bobby Dazzler for example, he takes his reader to the Marsden Valley of the 1930s and follows the lives of a family of coal miners as they struggle through the hard times of the Great Depression. The novel explores their dreams and hopes for the future through a cast of unique characters and a strong sense of place.

Martin’s subsequent novels, Early Riser and The Last King of Scotland are equally immersive, taking us to Glasgow during World War II, a prison camp during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war and Ethiopia during the 1960s civil war.

Martin is also an acclaimed lyricist with an impressive body of work featuring works such as "In my Dreams" and "Lumberjack" with the band McCarthy. He has also written work for several stage productions and acted as script advisor and subject of documentaries on television. In addition Martin has written academic articles on literature, film, and philosophy.

In 2019, the love story between childhood sweethearts Nora and Monty in The Cut Out Girl won hearts all around the world. Another of his works, Kursk in 2020, a novel about the death of sailors aboard a doomed Russian sub, further cemented his status as a master of historical fiction.

As a writer, Martin has received multiple awards, including a Contributors Award from the Thomas Hardy Society. His novel The Last King of Scotland, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2003 and the Orange Prize in 2006. He was also the first author to win the Wales Book of the Year, the Self Published and Small Trade Publishers’ Fiction Award, for The Bobby Dazzler.

Martin’s work continues to both engage and entertain, inspiring readers to reflect on the triumphs and tragedies of the past and reminding us of the fragility and beauty of life. With a bouquet of bestsellers under his belt, Martin is one of the most prolific and celebrated authors of our time.