Simon Sebag Montefiore: ‘I worked down a South African goldmine at 17’
The historian and author, 58, on his time as a war correspondent, his unusual family history and a hatred of scotch eggs
June 2020
Israel's West Bank plans condemned by leading British Jewish figures
Simon Schama and Sir Malcolm Rifkind among those warning that annexation ‘would have grave consequences’ for Palestinians
June 2017
Red Sky at Noon by Simon Sebag Montefiore review – love in dark times
The final, gripping instalment in the historian’s Moscow trilogy tells of a man wrongly imprisoned in the Gulags and his fight for redemption
May 2016
Prince Philip's DNA may identify the last of the Romanovs
Human remains could now be conclusively identified as belonging to the children of the Russian royal family who were killed with their parents in 1918
January 2016
Book of the day
The Romanovs 1613-1918 by Simon Sebag Montefiore – review
This no-holds-barred history of the Romanovs shows how they presided over three centuries of cruelty and slaughter
Authors call for boycott of festivals that do not pay
Joanne Harris and Linda Grant among signatories of letter saying authors have been giving services for free for too long
Philip Pullman resigns as Oxford literary festival patron over lack of pay for authors
Bestselling writer says organisers ‘expecting authors to work for free’ conflicts with his role as president of society that campaigns for author wages
December 2015
TV tonight
Tuesday’s best TV: MasterChef: The Professionals; Dog Rescuers at Christmas With Alan Davies; Luther; Blood and Gold: The Making of Spain
Observer TV reviews
The week in TV: Blood and Gold: The Making of Spain With Simon Sebag Montefiore; That’s So Last Century; The Secret Life of 6 Year Olds; Capital
October 2015
Israel needs cultural bridges, not boycotts – letter from JK Rowling, Simon Schama and others
Letter: Cultural boycotts singling out Israel are divisive and discriminatory, and will not further peace
September 2013
One Night in Winter by Simon Sebag Montefiore – review
One Night in Winter by Simon Sebag Montefiore – review
June 2012
Titans of History by Simon Sebag Montefiore – review
A survey of great historical figures favours villainy over goodness, writes Peter Conrad
March 2012
Paperback Q&A
Paperback Q&A: Simon Sebag Montefiore on Jerusalem: The Biography
The historian and novelist answers a few posers on his landmark account of the holy city and his writing methods and habits
July 2011
How facts spoil history books
Darragh McManus
No matter how well-researched and written, their relentless agglomeration of samey details puts me off reading
April 2011
Israeli authors join campaign to keep Arab bookseller in the country
For years Munther Fahmi has been living in the city of his birth on a series of tourist visas after his permanent residency lapsed. Now the authorities have warned they may not issue any more
January 2011
Book of the week
Jerusalem: The Biography by Simon Sebag Montefiore – review
Antony Beevor on a remarkably objective account of the holy city's turbulent history
Jerusalem: The Biography by Simon Sebag Montefiore – review
Jonathan Beckman enjoys a compendious history of the city of Jerusalem
Books in 2011 – from the new Alan Hollinghurst to David Foster Wallace's unfinished The Pale King
There's little by way of ex-prime ministers' memoirs, but the year ahead offers some fiction big-hitters and some impressive debuts, says William Skidelsky
February 2010
Thousands of authors opt out of Google book settlement
Some 6,500 writers, from Thomas Pynchon to Jeffrey Archer, have opted out of Google's controversial plan to digitise millions of books
