Robert Harris

Robert Harris, CBE, is an internationally bestselling British author and former journalist, celebrated for his meticulously researched and compelling historical and political thrillers. With a career spanning journalism, fiction, and screenwriting, Harris’s works have sold over 15 million copies worldwide and been translated into more than 40 languages.

Harris began his career as a journalist, writing for leading outlets such as The BBC, The Sunday Times, and The Observer, where he served as political editor. His early nonfiction focused on contemporary British politics before he transitioned into fiction, bringing the same analytical depth and historical insight to his novels.

Harris’s debut novel, Fatherland (1992), a speculative thriller set in an alternate history where Nazi Germany won World War II, became an international bestseller and marked the beginning of his fiction career. He followed it with a string of acclaimed novels, including Enigma (1995), Archangel (1998) Pompeii (2003), The Cicero Trilogy – Imperium, Lustrum, and Dictator (2006-2015), The Ghost (2007), The Fear Index (2011), An Officer and a Spy (2013), Conclave (2016), Munich (2017), The Second Sleep (2019),  V2 (2020), Act of Oblivion (2022) and most recently Precipice (2024).

Harris’s novels have continually attracted notable filmmakers, leading to multiple successful screen adaptations, including most recently a feature adaptation of Conclave, directed by Edward Berger. The film received widespread acclaim, winning the Academy Award and BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and has currently grossed over $100 million worldwide.

Additional film and TV adaptations include Fatherland (1994), a television film for HBO; Enigma (2001), a feature adaptation penned by Tom Stoppard and starring Kate Winslet; The Ghost Writer (2010), a feature adaptation co-written by Harris, directed by Roman Polanski and starring Ewan McGregor and Pierce Brosnan; An Officer and a Spy (2019), winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival; The Fear Index (2020), a TV series for Sky Studios starring Josh Hartnett; and Munich (2021), a feature adaptation for Netflix starring Jeremy Irons and George MacKay.