Sophie Haydock

Sophie Haydock is an author, journalist and cultural curator living in Folkestone, Kent. Her work reimagines the hidden lives of women on the margins of art history, bringing them into the centre of the frame. She is curator of Folkestone Book Festival and leads the town-wide initiative Folkestone is a Library.

Her debut novel, The Flames, explores the lives of the women who posed for the Austrian artist Egon Schiele. It was longlisted for the Historical Writers’ Association Debut Crown Award, won the Impress Prize for New Writers, and was named one of The Times’ Best Historical Fiction Books of 2022. The novel has been translated into seven languages, and its Italian edition, Le Fiamme, won the Premio Letterario Edoardo Kihlgren in Milan.

Her second novel, Madame Matisse (Doubleday, 2025), continues this exploration, uncovering the women who shaped the life and work of Henri Matisse, and illuminating the emotional and artistic forces behind his legacy and the explosive ultimatum at the heart of his marriage.

Alongside her fiction, Sophie writes for The Sunday Times, Financial Times and The Guardian, and has interviewed leading authors including Hilary Mantel, Maggie O’Farrell, Bernardine Evaristo, Sally Rooney and Amy Tan.

Her short story Mudlarks, a lyrical exploration of loss and discovery on the Thames foreshore, was broadcast on BBC Radio 4.

She appears regularly at major literary festivals including Hay and Cheltenham, and speaks on art and literature at venues such as the National Gallery, Sotheby’s and The Trouble Club, where she is known for bringing overlooked stories and provocative perspectives to wide audiences.

She also runs the Instagram platform @egonschieleswomen, which has a community of over 100,000 followers. 

For more information, visit: sophie-haydock.com