Adam Sisman, photographed at his home in Bristol, October 2023. Photograph: Karen Robinson/The Observer


Adam has contributed numerous book reviews and feature articles to such newspapers as The Sunday Times, The Observer, The Telegraph and the Sunday Telegraph, The Guardian, The Independent on Sunday, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times; and to journals such as The Spectator, the Literary Review, and Slightly Foxed.

He has frequently been interviewed on radio and television around the world. Radio programmes he has appeared on include NPR’s ‘All Things Considered’, BBC’s ‘Start the Week’, ‘Front Row’, ‘Open Book’, ‘Meet the Author’, & ‘Last Word’; television includes documentaries and news programmes on BBC, ITV, Sky, and C-Span. A few years ago he took part in a BBC Radio ‘Head to Head’ programme with Sir Richard J. Evans, Regius Professor of Modern History at Cambridge, in which they re-enacted the famous debate between A.J.P. Taylor and Hugh Trevor-Roper on the origins of the Second World War. In 2021 he was interviewed on camera by StudioCanal for the tenth anniversary of the film of John le Carré’s Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. In 2022 he was filmed at length for a forthcoming ITN television series on spying. As well as being interviewed, he has been a consultant on various documentaries, and most recently on the Apple series based on John le Carré’s memoir, The Pigeon Tunnel.

Recent articles:

“Blinking in the Sunlight” (Perspective, 9 November 2023)

https://perspectivemag.co.uk/blinking-in-the-sunlight/

“Spying is Lying” (Literary Hub, 30 October 2023)

https://lithub.com/spying-is-lying-how-david-cornwell-became-john-le-carre/

John le Carré biographer Adam Sisman: ‘He wanted to make me love him’ (The Guardian, 21 October 2023)

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/oct/21/adam-sisman-the-secret-life-of-john-le-carre-biography

“A Complex. driven, unhappy man: the truth about John le Carré” (Spectator, 15 October 2022)

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/a-complex-driven-unhappy-man-the-truth-about-john-le-carr/

“How John le Carré censored me” (Telegraph, 8 October 2022)

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/0/john-le-carre-biography-uncensored-spy-real-story-revealed/

“Magnificent Rebels: The First Romantics and the Invention of the Self” (Guardian, 11 September 2022)

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/sep/11/magnificent-rebels-the-first-romantics-and-the-invention-of-the-self-by-andrea-wulf-review-big-ideas-from-a-small-tow


Videos:

Adam Sisman on John Le Carré: Writing and Researching Elusive Subjects

The Anti-American Politics of John Le Carré with Adam Sisman

Discussion on Spy Work and John Le Carré with Adam Sisman

The Biographers' Club, Adam Sisman on his acclaimed John le Carré: The Biography - The Secret Life of John le Carré.

Secrets of John Le Carre AND The Diana murder plot, Part 2 | Ep.39 | The Scandal Mongers


Podcasts: