Philip Hoare is the author of nine works of narrative non-fiction. His book, Leviathan, Or The Whale won the Samuel Johnson Prize. His most recent book, Albert & the Whale, prompted the New York Times to call the author 'a forceful weather system of his own'. He is curator of the digital Moby-Dick and the Ancient Mariner Big Reads, with readings from Tilda Swinton, David Attenborough, Willem Dafoe, Iggy Pop, Hilary Mantel, Marianne Faithfull, Jeanette Winterson, Fiona Shaw, Jeremy Irons, etc. He has collaborated with artists such as Pet Shop Boys, John Waters, Dorothy Cross and Ellen Gallagher, and is a regular contributor to The Guardian. He has been chased out of the water by killer whales, but still swims in the sea every day.