Sophie Elmhirst

Sophie Elmhirst is a British journalist and author. Her work Maurice and Maralyn, describing the experiences of Maurice and Maralyn Bailey who spent 118 days adrift in a liferaft in 1973, won the "Golden Nero" as the overall winner of the 2024 Nero Book Awards.

In 2020, she won the features writer of the year award in the British Journalism Awards. The articles cited in the award were on domestic abuse, the tampon industry, and a cleaner's experience of working during the COVID-19 pandemic. Elmhirst was long-listed for the 2020 Orwell Prize for Journalism, the cited works being the second and third listed above and an article on maternity care.

She writes for publications including The Guardian "Long Read", The Economist 1843 digital magazine, The Gentlewoman and Harper's Bazaar.

Maurice and Maralyn Elmhirst has described how she came across the story of Maurice and Maralyn Bailey during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, when "It was cold and miserable and I was sitting at my desk with the kids going crazy downstairs." She found Alvaro Cerezo's website where he recorded tales of castaway and stranded people, and was intrigued by the fact that this English couple's experience was so little known. Cerezo's site included photographs of pages of Maralyn's diaries, and he had recorded an interview with Maurice in 2017.

In March 2025, the book was awarded the "Golden Nero" as the overall winner of the Nero Book Awards, having previously won the non-fiction category.