Simon Akam is a British writer. Born in Cambridge, England, he held a Gap Year Commission in the British Army before reading English Literature at Oxford University. He later won a Fulbright scholarship to study at Columbia Journalism School. After graduation from Columbia Simon worked at The New York Times in New York and subsequently spent several years in West Africa as a freelance correspondent for Reuters and the Economist. After a spell in London as a contract writer for the European edition of Newsweek, Simon then began writing The Changing of the Guard, his book on the post-9/11 evolution of the British Army. Alongside his book work Simon contributes magazine journalism to a broad range of British and American publications. His work has appeared in the Guardian, GQ, Outside, the New York Times, Bloomberg Businessweek and the Economist's 1843 magazine. He also co-hosts the writing podcast Always Take Notes with Rachel Lloyd.
