Sam Knight

Sam Knight is a British journalist and staff writer at The New Yorker, based in London, where he writes the column “A Letter from the UK” to cover British politics and society for an American readership. He specialises in long-form narrative nonfiction, and before joining The New Yorker as a staff writer he contributed to The Guardian, the Financial Times, The New York Times, Harper’s, and Grantland. His book “The Premonitions Bureau” became a Sunday Times bestseller, was named a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week, and was chosen as a book of the year by The Times, Observer, Telegraph, and Irish Times. His journalism has won two Foreign Press Association awards and was shortlisted for the 2018 Orwell Prize for Journalism.

Key facts

  • Occupation: writer; journalist
  • Field: journalism; investigative journalism
  • Employer: The New Yorker

Career and publications

Knight’s byline appeared in the Times of London as early as 2007, on subjects ranging from celebrations in Mongolia to events in Minsk, before his profile grew with his long-read features in The Guardian. The Guardian long-read form suited his instinct for narrative nonfiction, and his November 2017 piece “How the Sandwich Consumed Britain”, a 6,664-word account of Britain’s £8bn-a-year sandwich industry, became one of the section’s landmark pieces.

At The New Yorker, Knight writes under the standing column

A Letter from the UK

translating British political and social events for readers unfamiliar with the country’s institutions and rhythms. His New Yorker article “Under the Hammer” was shortlisted in the Arts and Culture Story of the Year category at the 2025 Foreign Press Association Media Awards. Knight has described himself as

more of a reader than a writer

a self-assessment that fits his practice of deep archival research before committing to a subject.

The Premonitions Bureau

Knight’s first book grew out of archival research at the British Library, where he encountered a reference to the bureau in a stack of books about premonitions and prophecies. That reference led him to the figure of John Barker, who ran the bureau. Knight first wrote an article on the subject for The New Yorker; after the piece appeared, Barker’s children agreed to cooperate and share their memories and documents.

A crucial turn in the narrative came when Knight found, buried in a 1970s publication, a scrap reference indicating that Barker himself had been warned by a percipient that his own life was in danger. Knight has described that discovery as the moment he understood the story was large enough to sustain a book.

The book was a Sunday Times bestseller and a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week, and was selected as a book of the year by The Times, the Observer, the Telegraph, and the Irish Times. Screen rights were won by Amazon Studios in a competitive 19-way auction among streamers and studios. The audiobook edition, read by actor Julian Rhind-Tutt, runs for 6 hours and 35 minutes.

Awards and recognition

Knight was shortlisted for the 2018 Orwell Prize for Journalism, described by the prize as Britain’s most prestigious award for political writing, for three articles published in The Guardian and The New Yorker. His journalism has also won two Foreign Press Association awards. At the 2025 Foreign Press Association Media Awards, his New Yorker article “Under the Hammer” received a further shortlisting in the Arts and Culture Story of the Year category.

Teaching and representation

Beyond his writing, Knight has served as a tutor for the Arvon Foundation, the British charity that runs residential creative writing courses. His literary agent is Emma Paterson at Rogers, Coleridge and White.

Did you know

  • The screen rights to “The Premonitions Bureau” were won by Amazon Studios after a competitive 19-way auction among streamers and studios. (thebookseller.com)
  • Knight discovered that Barker had been warned by a percipient that his own life was in danger only by coming across a scrap reference in a 1970s publication. He has described that find as the moment he realised the story was big enough for a book. (hero-magazine.com)
  • Knight’s writing career includes early features in the Times of London dating to 2007, on subjects ranging from celebrations in Mongolia to events in Minsk, before his profile grew with his Guardian long-reads. (longform.org)
  • Knight’s Guardian piece “How the Sandwich Consumed Britain” was chosen as the representative 2017 piece when The Guardian’s Long Read section celebrated its 10th anniversary, with Knight providing a new recorded introduction. (mixcloud.com)
  • The audiobook edition of “The Premonitions Bureau” was read by actor Julian Rhind-Tutt and runs for 6 hours and 35 minutes. (penguinrandomhouse.com)

Data sources

Data updated: 2026-10-27