Catherine Merridale

Catherine Anne Merridale, FBA (born 12 October 1959) is a British writer and historian with a special interest in Russian history.

Early life and education Merridale was born on 12 October 1959 to Philip and Anne Merridale. She was educated at Andover Grammar School, a state school in Andover, Hampshire, and at Cricklade College, a further education college that is also in Andover. Her doctoral thesis was titled "The Communist Party in Moscow 1925-1932".

Academic career Merridale was Professor of Contemporary History at Queen Mary, University of London from 2004 to 2014.

Research interests In an interview with The Independent, Merridale recalls how she became interested in Russia and its past. She began studying Russian in school and first visited the country at the age of 18. She said of her first impression of Russia, "Going from the then ghastly Soviet airport, everything in Moscow was grey and cold and hard. Suddenly in the middle of the city were these golden cupolas and enormous redbrick walls with peculiar swallowtail battlement pattern that didn’t look Russian, but did at the same time." When she began work on her higher degrees, Merridale spent a year living in Moscow and observing the changes occurring during that time.

Later career Having retired from her academic career, Merridale became a freelance writer in 2014. She has written for the London Review of Books, the New Statesman, The Independent, The Guardian, and the Literary Review. She has also contributed to BBC Radio. The author has spoken out publicly about the issues of publishing books in the field of history. There is much more pressure to publish shorter articles than full-length books, a "great shame" according to Merridale, author of multiple history books.

Merridale's debut fiction novel Moscow Underground was published in 2025. Moscow Underground was named one of the best historical fiction books of 2025 by The Sunday Times.

Selected works Non-fiction

Novels Moscow Underground (2025)

Honours UK Heinemann Award for Literature for Night of Stone New York Military Affairs Symposium's Arthur Goodzeit Prize for best book on Military History for Ivan's War Pushkin House Book Prize for Red Fortress She was elected a Fellow of the British Academy, the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences, in 2016.