Simon Kuper facts for kids

Simon Kuper is a British and French writer and journalist. He is famous for his work at the Financial Times newspaper. He is also well-known for writing about football (soccer).

Simon Kuper was born in Uganda. His parents were from South Africa. He grew up mostly in the Netherlands and now lives in Paris, France. He studied at important universities like Oxford and Harvard University. He started working as a journalist at the Financial Times in 1994. Today, he writes about many different topics. These include politics, society, culture, sports, and how cities are planned.

He writes a popular column in the weekend edition of the FT Magazine. He has won awards for being the "Columnist of the Year" twice. Simon Kuper has also written for other newspapers like The Guardian and The Times.

His special way of writing about sports, especially football, has won him many awards. He writes about sports from an "anthropological perspective." This means he looks at the human side of sports. Time Magazine has called him "one of the world’s leading writers on soccer." The Economic Times called him "one of the world's most famous football writers."

He has written several books. One of his award-winning books is Football Against the Enemy. Another popular book is Chums: How a Tiny Caste of Oxford Tories Took Over the UK. This book was a Sunday Times Bestseller and is about UK politics.

Early Life and Education

Simon Kuper was born in Uganda. His parents were from South Africa. When he was a child, his family moved to Leiden in the Netherlands. His father, Adam Kuper, was a professor of anthropology at Leiden University. Simon Kuper was named after his grandfather, Simon Meyer Kuper. His grandfather was a judge in South Africa.

Simon Kuper has lived in many places. These include Jamaica, Sweden, Palo Alto, California, Berlin, and London. He studied History and German at Oxford University. He also attended Harvard University as a Kennedy Scholar.

Journalism Career

Simon Kuper joined the Financial Times in 1994. He wrote about different topics and worked in various departments. He left the FT in 1998 but returned in 2002. Since then, he has been a sports columnist and a general columnist. He writes for the Weekend FT about many subjects. These include politics, books, and cities like London, Paris, Johannesburg, and Miami. Kuper has also written for other publications. These include The Times, The Observer, ESPN, and The Spectator.

He also writes in Dutch. His work has appeared in Dutch newspapers like NRC Handelsblad and Het Financieele Dagblad. He has also written for the football magazine Hard Gras and the online newspaper De Correspondent.

Writing for the Financial Times

Simon Kuper is seen as a very important writer at the Financial Times. Since he joined in 1994, he has had many different roles. He writes about a wide range of topics. These include sports, popular culture, and politics.

He started his career at the FT as a reporter. His work often took him to different parts of the world. He reported on global events and provided analysis.

His sports writing is special because it goes beyond just scores and statistics. He looks at how sports affect society, politics, and culture around the world. For example, he writes about the culture around football. He has also written about cricket, including cricket in the Netherlands and cricket during apartheid in South Africa.

For many years, he has also written for the FT's Weekend Magazine. He writes long essays and interviews. These cover topics like current events, travel, history, and politics.

Simon Kuper has won the "Columnist of the Year" prize twice. He received this award from the British Society of Magazine Editors in 2016 and 2020.

Books by Simon Kuper

Simon Kuper has written several books. His first book, Football Against the Enemy (1994), won an award. It was later released in the United States as Soccer Against the Enemy. The Times newspaper said about the book: "If you like football, read it. If you don't like football, read it."

In 2003, he published Ajax, The Dutch, the War: Football in Europe during the Second World War. In 2009, he wrote Soccernomics with Stefan Szymanski. In this book, they created a formula. Using this, Kuper predicted that Serbia and Brazil would play in the 2010 FIFA World Cup Final.

His book The Football Men came out in 2011. It is a collection of articles about the world of football. It includes pieces he wrote over 13 years, plus new ones. The Independent newspaper said that Simon Kuper offers a fresh view. He is not just looking for quotes from players. He speaks his mind about famous players from the past.

Kuper's book Barça: The Rise and Fall of the Club that Built Modern Football was published in 2021. It won the Sunday Times award for Football Book of the Year in 2022.

Also in 2021, Kuper released The Happy Traitor. This book tells the story of George Blake. Blake was a British spy who worked for the Soviet Union. The book explores Blake's complex character. It looks at his changing ideas and personal struggles. This book is an important part of Kuper's work.

In 2022, he published Chums - How a Tiny Caste of Oxford Tories Took Over the UK. This book is about how a group of friends from Oxford University came to have a lot of power in Westminster, the UK government.

Personal Life

Simon Kuper lives in Paris with his wife, Pamela Druckerman. She is also an author. They have three children. In 2022, he wrote that he had become a French citizen. He had lived in Paris for more than 20 years.

See also

In Spanish: Simon Kuper para niños