Matt Carr

Matt Carr is a writer and journalist. His nonfiction books include the widely acclaimed memoir of his Caribbean childhood, My Father’s House (Hamish Hamilton 1997); The Infernal Machine: A History of Terrorism (New Press 2007); Blood and Faith: The Purging of Muslim Spain 1492–1614 (Hurst/New Press 2009); Fortress Europe: Inside the War Against Immigration (Hurst/New Press 2012), and Savage Frontier: The Pyrenees in History (Hurst/New Press 2018).

His first novel The Devils of Cardona (Penguin Random House 2017) was a New York Times Editors’ Choice. His journalism has been published in The Guardian, the New Statesman, The Observer, the New York Times International and Literary Hub. He has spoken at numerous literary festivals, and taught creative writing to adults and teenagers.

A lifelong Hispanophile, Matt writes fiction and nonfiction often focused on themes from Spanish and Latin American culture, history, and politics. He is the founder of the 1 Day Without Us campaign in solidarity with migrants, and a co-host of the podcast Grim Up North: A Podcast About the North, from the North.

He is currently working on a book about Charles Darwin, racial science, and the conquest of Patagonia.

Matt lives in Sheffield with his wife and two cats. When not writing and reading, he spends his time playing tennis, walking in the Peak District, and haunting coffee shops.