Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes is an archaeologist and Honorary Fellow at the University of Liverpool. She specialises in prehistory and is an expert in ancient stone tool technologies. After an academic career including four years in Bordeaux, France, in 2020 Rebecca followed her long-held passion for writing for wider audiences in her first book Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death and Art, which won the 2021 PEN Hessell-Tiltman Prize. A deep dive into the 21st century understanding of these ancient relatives, Kindred is a critically acclaimed bestseller, translated into 19 languages. It was a finalist for the 2022 Premio Galileo, the 2022 Wissenbuch des Jahres, won 2021’s Current Archaeology Book of the Year, and was selected as one of the New York Times’ 100 Notable Books Of 2021, a Book Of The Year for The Sunday Times, New Scientist and others; Book Of The Week for The Times; and Book Of The Day for The Guardian.
Based in Wales with her family, Rebecca lives on the Long Mountain – on the edge of a forest, twenty metres from Offa’s Dyke – and combines her writing, speaking and academic collaborations with scientific consultancy for organisations including internationally-renowned museums and major film and television companies, alongside leading archaeological-themed tours in France and Spain for New Scientist.
Agent: Patrick Walsh