Tom Rachman Explained

Tom Rachman (born September 1974)^[1] is an English-Canadian author. His debut novel was The Imperfectionists (2010), about a group of journalists working in Rome during the collapse of the traditional news media. The book became a global bestseller, published in 25 languages,^[2] and Brad Pitt's production company, Plan B, optioned the film rights.^[3]

Rachman was born in London, England, and grew up in Vancouver, Canada. He studied cinema at the University of Toronto and obtained a master's degree from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Later, he studied behavioral science at the London School of Economics.

Rachman's first job in journalism was as an editor of international news at Associated Press headquarters in New York. Later, he was sent to the Rome bureau as a foreign correspondent. He moved to Paris to write fiction, and worked there at the global edition of The New York Times, the International Herald Tribune.^[4] After publishing The Imperfectionists in 2010, he quit full-time journalism to write further novels while contributing non-fiction articles to The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker and The Atlantic, among other publications.^[5]

His novel The Italian Teacher, about the troubled son of a famous American painter, was nominated for the Costa Award for best novel.^[6] His collection of short stories, Basket of Deplorables, set during the Trump presidency, was nominated for the Edge Hill Short Story Prize.^[7] Rachman ghost-wrote the nonfiction book, We Are Bellingcat, with Eliot Higgins, founder of the online-investigative collective known for exposing Russian-state criminality, such as the Skripal poisoning.^[8]

Rachman currently lives in London, and is a contributing columnist to the Canadian newspaper The Globe & Mail. His writing has twice been included in the Best Canadian Essays anthologies,^{[9] [10]} and was nominated for a 2024 National Newspaper Award.^[11]

His father was the psychologist Stanley Rachman, his brother is the Financial Times columnist Gideon Rachman and his sister Carla is an art historian; their sister Emily died of breast cancer in 2012.^[12]

Works

Fiction

• The Imperfectionists (2010), longlisted for the Giller Prize^[13] and winner of the Canadian Authors Award for fiction^[14]
• The Rise & Fall of Great Powers (2014)
• Basket of Deplorables (2017), shortlisted for the Edge Hill Prize for best collection of stories^[15]
• The Italian Teacher (2018), shortlisted for the Costa Award for best novel^[16]
• The Imposters (2023) ^[17]

Non-fiction

• We Are Bellingcat (2021) by Eliot Higgins (written with Tom Rachman)

Notes

• Christopher Buckley, "The Paper", The New York Times, 30 April 2010.

External links

• Tom Rachman

Notes and References

1. Web site: The Imperfectionists - a novel by Tom Rachman - About Tom . 2013-07-01 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20130527095117/http://tomrachman.com/about_tom.php . 2013-05-27 .
2. Web site: Bethune . Brian . Tom Rachman's latest novel asks: can a great artist be a good father? . 2024-04-29 . Macleans.ca . en.
3. Web site: Brad Pitt buys rights to 'The Imperfectionists' . 2024-04-29 . EW.com . en.
4. Web site: 2011-03-14 . The Debut . 2024-04-29 . University of Toronto Magazine . en-US.
5. Web site: Articles . 2024-04-29 . Tom Rachman . en.
6. News: Clark . Clare . 2018-12-25 . The Italian Teacher by Tom Rachman review – great art and monstrous selfishness . 2024-04-29 . The Guardian . en-GB . 0261-3077.
7. Web site: 2022-06-20 . Previous shortlists and winners . 2024-04-29 . The Edge Hill Short Story Prize . en-GB.
8. News: Harding . Luke . 2021-02-01 . We Are Bellingcat by Eliot Higgins review – the reinvention of reporting for the internet age . 2024-04-29 . The Guardian . en-GB . 0261-3077.
9. Web site: Best Canadian Essays 2023 . 2024-04-29 . Biblioasis . en-US.
10. Web site: Best Canadian Essays 2025 . 2024-04-29 . Biblioasis . en-US.
11. News: 2024-04-26 . All The Globe and Mail's winners and finalists for the 2023 National Newspaper Awards . 2024-04-29 . The Globe and Mail . en-CA.
12. News: How I mourned my sister through the books she left behind. 27 May 2016. Washington Post. 30 May 2016.
13. Web site: Scotiabank Giller Prize 2010 Announces Its Longlist. www.scotiabank.com. 2018-11-23.
14. Web site: Winners of CAA Literary Awards Revealed - The BPC. www.thebpc.ca. en-US. 2018-11-23.
15. News: Shortlist 2018. 2018-06-18. Short Story. 2018-11-23. en-GB.
16. News: Shortlist for 2018 Costa Book Awards announced. Evening Standard. 2018-11-23. en-GB.
17. News: 2023-07-23 . Review For an aging novelist, the blurring lines of fact and fiction . 2024-03-07 . Washington Post . en-US . 0190-8286.