Merlin Sheldrake

Merlin Sheldrake (born 1987) is a British mycologist and writer known for his popular science writings on fungi.

Early life and education Merlin Sheldrake was born in 1987 in London to Rupert Sheldrake, an English author and parapsychology researcher, and Jill Purce, a therapist. He grew up near Hampstead Heath in London. His brother, Cosmo Sheldrake, is a musician. As a teenager, Sheldrake was influenced by Paul Stamets, a self-taught mycologist and "fungal evangelist," and Karl von Frisch's book Animal Architecture.

Sheldrake studied at the University of Cambridge, where he was a scholar of Clare College. After being awarded his undergraduate degree in biological science, he subsequently earned a master's degree in the history and philosophy of science, and later a PhD in tropical ecology. He studied underground fungal networks in Panama's tropical forests as a predoctoral research fellow at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.

Career In 2020, Sheldrake published his first book, Entangled Life, which was a bestseller in both The Sunday Times and The New York Times booklists and received the 2021 Royal Society Science Book Prize. Entangled Life has positioned Merlin Sheldrake as a leading advocate for fungi.

Inspired by Sheldrake's book, couture designer Iris van Herpen created a collection based on fungi, featuring designs mimicking chanterelle mushrooms and hyphae.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Sheldrake and his brother co-founded a business called Sheldrake & Sheldrake that sells fermented hot sauce.

Sheldrake is on the advisory board of the Society for the Protection of Underground Networks, which aims to map and protect global mycorrhizal diversity. He also works with mycologist Giuliana Furci and NYU law professor César Rodríguez Garavito to create legal protections for fungi, contributing to a larger movement that aims to provide legal representation for non-human living entities.

Since 2023, he has been a research associate at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in the Netherlands. It was revealed in 2025, that Sheldrake had been in direct email and phone contact with convicted child rapist and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein between 2018 and 2019, having been introduced to Epstein by his father, Rupert Sheldrake. After this knowledge went public, Sheldrake claimed to have cut ties with Epstein in 2019, after learning about his criminal activity.

Personal life Sheldrake is married to the poet Erin Robinsong.