Oliver Burkeman
Oliver Burkeman writes books and The Imperfectionist newsletter about time, mortality, and making a meaningful life within our limits.
At 100 nudges, fangea sends Oliver’s team an official invite.
🔒 Star boosts open once Oliver claims this page.
Latest
Oliver’s happenings, collected from public sources, plus their backstory and Starbook, where fans write.
Known for
BookOverview
- Work
- Author, journalist, and newsletter writer
- Based
- North York Moors, England
- Early writing
- Edited Varsity while studying at Christ’s College, Cambridge
- Breakout book
- Four Thousand Weeks (2021)
- Newsletter
- The Imperfectionist, published twice monthly
Mini bio
How it started.
Oliver was making one-page newsletters for classmates in primary school. At Cambridge, he edited Varsity, then found his way into professional journalism through freelancing and casual subediting shifts. In his ARC interview, he described hanging around until giving him a job became the easiest option.
The questions behind the books.
His long-running Guardian column, This Column Will Change Your Life, explored psychology and self-help. The Antidote questioned the pursuit of positive thinking. Four Thousand Weeks became a New York Times and Sunday Times bestseller by asking readers to face the limits of a human lifetime.
What fans follow now.
Meditations for Mortals turns those concerns into four weeks of reflections on doing what counts. His twice-monthly newsletter, The Imperfectionist, keeps returning to productivity, mortality, and the power of limits. After a decade in Brooklyn, he moved to the North York Moors in England.
Creditschronological, newest first
- 2024Meditations for MortalsAuthor and audiobook narrator
- 2021Four Thousand WeeksAuthor
- 2012The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can’t Stand Positive ThinkingAuthor
Awards
Quotes
Make a productive nuisance of yourself.Oliver Burkeman, Varsity interview
His advice for aspiring writers and journalists in October 2022.
Trivia
- His newsletter habit goes back to one-page publications he gave classmates in primary school.
- He told Varsity he would advise his student self to relax more.
- He retypes drafts from scratch rather than only editing the existing text.
Find Oliver
Read the newsletter, explore the books, and follow Oliver’s updates.
Are you Oliver Burkeman?
Fans built this page. Claim it to connect with them and unlock Star boosts, or request a takedown if you’d rather it not exist.