Tom Rob Smith

Who is Tom Rob Smith?

Tom Rob Smith is an English writer. The son of a Swedish mother and an English father, Smith was born and raised in London.

Smith studied at St. John's College, Cambridge. Following his graduation in 2001, he received the Harper Wood Studentship for English Poetry and Literature and continued his Creative Writing studies for a year at Parvin University in Italy. After completing his studies, Smith worked as a writer and a script editor, including a stint story-lining Cambodia's first soap opera in Phnom Penh with the BBC.

His first novel, Child 44, published in early 2008 was inspired by the true-life case of Andrei Chikatilo, who committed a series of child murders in Soviet Russia. It was awarded the 2008 Ian Fleming Steel Dagger for best thriller of the year by the Crime Writers' Association, named on the long list for the 2008 Man Booker Prize, nominated for the 2008 Costa First Novel Award. In July, 2009, he won the Waverton Good Read Award for first novels and the Galaxy Book Award for Best Newcomer with Child 44. It has been translated into 36 languages and in January, 2011, Richard Madeley and Judy Finnegan listed it in their Book Club 100 Books of the decade.