Simon Winchester, OBE, is a British-American author and journalist. In his career at The Guardian newspaper, Winchester covered numerous significant events, including Bloody Sunday and the Watergate Scandal. He has written or contributed to over 30 nonfiction books, has written one novel, and has contributed to several magazines, among them Condé Nast Traveler, Smithsonian Magazine, and National Geographic.

Born in north London on 28th September 1944, Simon was the only child of Bernard and Andrée Winchester (née deWael). He was educated at a boarding convent in Bridport, Dorset and later at Hardye’s School, Dorchester, Dorset. After graduating from Oxford in 1966, he worked as a field geologist in Uganda before switching to journalism in 1967, influenced by Jan Morris's Coronation Everest.

Winchester's journalism career spanned various global assignments including as Northern Ireland Correspondent for The Guardian during The Troubles, reporting on major events like Bloody Sunday. He later worked in Washington, DC, covering the Watergate affair, and in New Delhi as India Correspondent.

His move to Hong Kong saw him cover Asia for The Guardian and become Asia Editor of Condé Nast Traveler. He gained fame as an author with the success of The Professor and the Madman published in 1998, which led him to focus entirely on writing books.

Simon Winchester was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) ‘for services to journalism and literature’ in 2006 and elected an Honorary Fellow of St. Catherine’s College, Oxford, in 2009. He resides in New York and on a small farm in the Berkshires and has varied interests including letterpress printing and beekeeping.