Samantha Weinberg is a British

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire ...

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

and

travel writer The genre of travel literature encompasses outdoor literature, guide books, nature writing, and travel memoirs. One early travel memoirist in Western literature was Pausanias, a Greek geographer of the 2nd century CE. In the early modern per ...

. Educated at

St Paul's Girls' School St Paul's Girls' School is an independent day school for girls, aged 11 to 18, located in Brook Green, Hammersmith, in West London, England. History St Paul's Girls' School was founded by the Worshipful Company of Mercers in 1904, using part o ...

and

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...

, she is the author of books such as ''A Fish Caught in Time: The Search for the Coelacanth'' and the

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors hav ...

inspired trilogy ''

The Moneypenny Diaries ''The Moneypenny Diaries'' is a series of novels and short stories chronicling the life of Miss Moneypenny, M's personal secretary in Ian Fleming's James Bond series; it is considered an official spin-off of the Bond books. The diaries are penned ...

'' under the alias Kate Westbrook. Since 2019, she has been a contributor to Tortoise Media.

Writing

In 1994 Weinberg wrote ''Last of the Pirates: in search of Bob Denard'' () about French mercenary

Bob Denard Robert Denard (born Gilbert Bourgeaud; 7 April 1929 – 13 October 2007) was a French soldier of fortune and mercenary. He served as the Military Leader of The Comoros twice with him first serving from 13 May 1978 to 15 December 1989 and agai ...

. In 1995, she spent three months travelling in the United States with Daisy Waugh. In 2003 she won the

CWA Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction The CWA Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction is a British literary award established in 1978 by the Crime Writers' Association, who have awarded the Gold Dagger fiction award since 1955. In 1978 and 1979 only there was also a silver award. From 1995 to 200 ...

for her book ''Pointing from the Grave: a True Story of Murder and DNA'' (), about the murder of biotechnologist Helena Greenwood in California in 1985 and the pioneering use of

DNA profiling DNA profiling (also called DNA fingerprinting) is the process of determining an individual's DNA characteristics. DNA analysis intended to identify a species, rather than an individual, is called DNA barcoding. DNA profiling is a forensic t ...

in tracing her killer 15 years later.

''The Moneypenny Diaries''

When Weinberg's agent, Gillon Aitken, was appointed the literary adviser to

Ian Fleming Publications Ian Fleming Publications is the production company formerly known as both Glidrose Productions Limited and Glidrose Publications Limited, named after its founders John Gliddon and Norman Rose. In 1952, author Ian Fleming bought it after completi ...

, she and Aitken pitched their idea for a series of James Bond novels centred on the character of

Miss Moneypenny Miss Moneypenny, later assigned the first names of Eve or Jane, is a fictional character in the James Bond novels and films. She is secretary to M (James Bond), M, who is Bond's superior officer and head of the British Secret Intelligence Serv ...

, M's personal secretary. The series, referred to as ''

'', is a trilogy with three books and two short stories currently published under the alias of Moneypenny's editor, Kate Westbrook. * '' The Moneypenny Diaries: Guardian Angel'' (2005) * " For Your Eyes Only, James" (2006 short story) * '' Secret Servant: The Moneypenny Diaries'' (2006) * " Moneypenny's First Date With Bond" (2006 short story) * '' The Moneypenny Diaries: Final Fling'' (2008)

Politics

In 2010 Weinberg became the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation f ...

candidate for the new seat of

Chippenham Chippenham is a market town in northwest Wiltshire, England. It lies northeast of Bath, west of London, and is near the Cotswolds Area of Natural Beauty. The town was established on a crossing of the River Avon and some form of settlement i ...

in Wiltshire, standing under her married name.

Personal life

Weinberg is married to filmmaker Mark Fletcher. She currently resides in

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

, England. She has two children.

References

External links

Samantha Weinberg Author Profile
HarperCollins Publishers
Samantha Weinberg Interview
CommanderBond.net

Double O Section, May 2008
MI6.co.uk Samantha Weinberg Interview
MI6 - The Home of James Bond 007, 19 November 2005 {{DEFAULTSORT:Weinberg, Samantha Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge English women novelists English travel writers British women travel writers Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Green Party of England and Wales parliamentary candidates People educated at St Paul's Girls' School 21st-century British novelists English women journalists 21st-century English women writers English women non-fiction writers