Oliver Soden is a writer and broadcaster, and the critically acclaimed author of Michael Tippett: The Biography (2019); Jeoffry: The Poet's Cat (2020); and Masquerade: The Lives of Noël Coward (2023).
Michael Tippett: The Biography was hailed by Philip Pullman as a "delight to read"; by the Spectator as "an exceptional piece of work"; and by Gramophone as "nothing short of miraculous". Book of the Year in the Spectator, Times Literary Supplement and Observer, the book won the Somerset Maugham Award and the Royal Philharmonic Society Prize for Storytelling; it was shortlisted for the Elizabeth Longford Prize for Historical Biography and longlisted for the HWA Non-Fiction Crown.
Jeoffry: The Poet's Cat, a semi-fictionalised biography of the cat who belonged to eighteenth-century poet Christopher Smart, was described as "inspired and original" by Hilary Mantel and as "the most beautiful and haunting book of recent times" by Alexander McCall Smith. Book of the Year in the Times Literary Supplement, it was championed as "a little classic" by Dame Eileen Atkins on BBC Radio 4's A Good Read. The audio version (from Spiracle Audio) is read by the author with Stephen Fry.
Masquerade, the first biography of Noël Coward in nearly thirty years, was published in 2023 to widespread praise. "This is the biography" wrote the Telegraph in its five-star review, "truthful, sympathetic and thorough, that Coward deserves." The Financial Times hailed a "captivating biography by an emerging literary star". Oliver was co-creator of A Marvellous Party, a charity gala celebrating Coward staged in the West End in November 2024, and starring Dame Judi Dench, Sir Ian McKellen, Sir Derek Jacobi and Dame Patricia Routledge.
All three of Oliver's books are available on audio read by the author: Tippett (joined by Sir Derek Jacobi) for BBC Radio 4's Book of the Week; Jeoffry (with Stephen Fry) for Spiracle Audio; and Masquerade for Audible. Oliver's writing – on art, music and literature – has appeared in the Guardian, Spectator, London Review of Books and Times Literary Supplement, and his short fiction has been published by Prospect. He is a frequent guest speaker at literary and music festivals and on BBC Radios 3 and 4, Times Radio and ABC Radio National; he has lectured at the National Galleries of Scotland, the English Speaking Union in New York, and the Montreux Jazz Festival in Geneva. Film and television appearances include ITV News; the BBC's Villages by the Sea; and feature documentaries on Tippett and on the Ritz Hotel. He has worked on award-winning television documentaries such as Janet Baker: In Her Own Words and for BBC Radio 3's long-running programme Private Passions.
Oliver was educated at Lancing College in Sussex, and at Clare College, Cambridge, where he took a double first in English. Born in 1990, he grew up in Bath and Sussex, and lives in London.
[pron. SŌ-duhn]
Michael Tippett: The Biography was hailed by Philip Pullman as a "delight to read"; by the Spectator as "an exceptional piece of work"; and by Gramophone as "nothing short of miraculous". Book of the Year in the Spectator, Times Literary Supplement and Observer, the book won the Somerset Maugham Award and the Royal Philharmonic Society Prize for Storytelling; it was shortlisted for the Elizabeth Longford Prize for Historical Biography and longlisted for the HWA Non-Fiction Crown.
Jeoffry: The Poet's Cat, a semi-fictionalised biography of the cat who belonged to eighteenth-century poet Christopher Smart, was described as "inspired and original" by Hilary Mantel and as "the most beautiful and haunting book of recent times" by Alexander McCall Smith. Book of the Year in the Times Literary Supplement, it was championed as "a little classic" by Dame Eileen Atkins on BBC Radio 4's A Good Read. The audio version (from Spiracle Audio) is read by the author with Stephen Fry.
Masquerade, the first biography of Noël Coward in nearly thirty years, was published in 2023 to widespread praise. "This is the biography" wrote the Telegraph in its five-star review, "truthful, sympathetic and thorough, that Coward deserves." The Financial Times hailed a "captivating biography by an emerging literary star". Oliver was co-creator of A Marvellous Party, a charity gala celebrating Coward staged in the West End in November 2024, and starring Dame Judi Dench, Sir Ian McKellen, Sir Derek Jacobi and Dame Patricia Routledge.
All three of Oliver's books are available on audio read by the author: Tippett (joined by Sir Derek Jacobi) for BBC Radio 4's Book of the Week; Jeoffry (with Stephen Fry) for Spiracle Audio; and Masquerade for Audible. Oliver's writing – on art, music and literature – has appeared in the Guardian, Spectator, London Review of Books and Times Literary Supplement, and his short fiction has been published by Prospect. He is a frequent guest speaker at literary and music festivals and on BBC Radios 3 and 4, Times Radio and ABC Radio National; he has lectured at the National Galleries of Scotland, the English Speaking Union in New York, and the Montreux Jazz Festival in Geneva. Film and television appearances include ITV News; the BBC's Villages by the Sea; and feature documentaries on Tippett and on the Ritz Hotel. He has worked on award-winning television documentaries such as Janet Baker: In Her Own Words and for BBC Radio 3's long-running programme Private Passions.
Oliver was educated at Lancing College in Sussex, and at Clare College, Cambridge, where he took a double first in English. Born in 1990, he grew up in Bath and Sussex, and lives in London.
[pron. SŌ-duhn]
