Philip Marsden author page

Philip Marsden biography

Philip Marsden is a British author and journalist known for his works of non-fiction, particularly those exploring themes of place, history, and travel. He studied at Oxford University and began his writing career as a journalist, contributing to various publications.

Marsden’s early books include The Crossing Place: A Journey Among the Armenians, published in 1993, which documents his travels through Armenia and the Armenian diaspora. He followed this with The Spirit-Wrestlers: A Russian Journey in 1998, focusing on the Doukhobors, a Russian religious sect. In 2002, he published The Bronski House, a family memoir set against the backdrop of Eastern European history.

His later works have often centred on the British landscape and its cultural history. The Levelling Sea: The Story of a Cornish Haven in the Age of Sail (2011) examines the maritime history of Falmouth, Cornwall. In 2014, Marsden published Rising Ground: A Search for the Spirit of Place, which explores the relationship between people and the landscape of the British Isles.

Marsden’s writing has appeared in publications such as The Guardian and The Spectator. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

His book The Summer Isles: A Voyage of the Imagination was published by Granta in 2019.