Sathnam Sanghera | |
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 Sanghera in 2021 | |
| Born | 1976 (age 48–49) Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England |
| Education | Wolverhampton Grammar School |
| Alma mater | Christ's College, Cambridge |
| Occupation(s) | Journalist and author |
| Employer(s) | The Times Express and Star |
| Notable work | The Boy with the Topknot (2009) |
| Website | www |
Sathnam Sanghera FRSL (born 1976) is a British journalist and best-selling author. [1]
Sathnam Sanghera was born to Indian Punjabi parents in Wolverhampton in 1976. [2] [3] His parents had emigrated from India to the UK in 1968. [4] [5] He was raised a Sikh. [5] He attended Wolverhampton Grammar School, an independent school where he had gained a place after passing the 11+ examination and was funded by the government's Assisted Places Scheme. He graduated from Christ's College, Cambridge, with a first-class degree in English Language and Literature in 1998. [3]
Before becoming a writer, Sanghera worked at a burger chain, a hospital laundry, a market research firm, a sewing factory and a literacy project in New York. [3] As a student, he worked at the Express and Star in Wolverhampton and dressed up as a "news bunny" for L!VE TV. [6] Between 1998 and 2006, he was a reporter and feature writer for the Financial Times . [3]
Sanghera joined The Times as a columnist and feature writer in 2007. [3] He also writes the motoring column for Management Today magazine. [3] His memoir, The Boy with the Topknot (2009), was adapted for BBC Two in 2017. [2] His novel Marriage Material, originally published in 2013, was inspired in part by Arnold Bennett's The Old Wives' Tale. [7]
In 2016, Sanghera was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (FRSL). [8] [9]
His books Empireland and Empireworld both focus on the history of British imperialism. According to Sanghera, while growing up, he remembers learning a sanitized version of British history and imperialism, and began to look at the history differently when he met Irish students as a postgraduate. [10] In November 2021, his Channel 4 documentary series about race, Empire State of Mind, received a four-star review in The Guardian from Chitra Ramaswamy. [11] His 2013 novel Marriage Material, [12] about a Sikh family in Wolverhampton, was adapted for theater in 2025. [13]
Sanghera lives in North London. [3] [14]
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