Simon Sebag Montefiore is a historian and writer. He was born in 1965, educated at Ludgove, then Harrow School and read history at Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge University.

Montefiore's books are world bestsellers, published in 33 languages. His first history book, Catherine the Great & Potemkin, was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson, Duff Cooper, and Marsh Biography Prizes. Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar won the History Book of the Year Prize at the 2004 British Book Awards. Young Stalin won LA Times Book Prize for Best Biography, the Costa Biography Award, the Bruno Kreisky Prize for Political Literature, and has been shortlisted for the James Tait Black Memorial Prize.