Marcel Theroux

Marcel Theroux is a broadcaster and novelist. He was born in Kampala, Uganda, in 1968. Growing up in England, he studied English Literature at Cambridge University and then won a fellowship to Yale where he took an MA in International Relations with a specialisation in Soviet and East European Studies.

In 2008 Marcel authored and presented ‘The Great Russian Art Boom’ on Channel 4, exploring why Russian Billionaires were suddenly buying art. In March 2009 Marcel presented ‘In Search of Wabi-Sabi’ for BBC Four, as part of the channel’s ‘Hidden Japan’ season of programming, which follows Marcel’s challenging, entertaining and moving journey through Japan as he tries to understand the Japanese people and their theory of aesthetics. He is also a regular presenter of Channel 4’s ‘Unreported World’.

In March 2006 Theroux presented ‘Death of a Nation’ on More 4. In which he explored Russia’s post-Soviet problems including population decline, the growing AIDS epidemic and the persecution of the Meskhetian Turks.  Marcel is also a contributing editor to ‘Travel and Leisure’ Magazine. A piece he wrote for them about traveling to the coldest town in the world was chosen to appear in “Best American Travel Writing 2000”, published by Houghton Mifflin.

The New York Times called his first novel, ‘A Stranger in the Earth’, “charming and sprightly… a buoyant novel that amuses and entertains.” His second novel, ‘The Confessions of Mycroft Holmes: A Paper Chase’, won the Somerset Maugham Award in 2002. Reviewing it in the New York Times, the critic John Lanchester described it as “exquisitely calculated…very satisfying.” ‘A Blow to the Heart’ is Marcel’s third book, published in July 2006. His book ‘Far North’, published by Faber in March 2009, was shortlisted for the US National Book Award. He has written a subsequent two books – “Strange Bodies: A Novel’ and ‘The Secret Books’.