Philip Hoare is a British writer, film-maker and curator. He won the 2009 Samuel Johnson Prize, now known as theBaillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction, for his workLeviathan, or the Whale.
He was born Patrick Moore.[2] He chose the name Philip Hoare to avoid confusion with astronomerPatrick Moore:[1]
Imagine having to spend your entire life living with people asking: 'You're not that astronomer, are you?' Or: 'Do you play the xylophone?' Another reason was that when I was managing bands I used to review my own bands for theNME andSounds as Philip Hoare. Philip was myconfirmation name; Hoare my mother's maiden name.
Hoare was the winner of the 2009 Samuel Johnson Prize, now known as theBaillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction, for his workLeviathan, or the Whale.[4] The book, which describes a personal and societal fascination with whales, received praise.[5][6] Jonathan Mirsky, writing forLiterary Review, called the book "tremendous".[7]
Hoare has written articles onwhales, including one on theorca 'attacks' off the Iberian Peninsula in 2023.[11] He is special ambassador for Whale and Dolphin Conservation, visiting fellow at theFine Arts Work Center, Provincetown, and lecturer at theRhode Island School of Design, Providence.[12]
As a writer, Hoare has represented the British Council in Berlin, Guadalajara, and Moscow.[12][13][14]
The Whale: In Search Of The Giants Of The Sea (2010)
The Sea Inside (2013)
RisingTideFallingStar (2017)
Albert and the Whale: Albrecht Dürer and How Art Imagines Our World (2021)[a]
William Blake and the Sea Monsters of Love (2025, 4th Estate)[15]
He has also editedThe Sayings of Noël Coward (1997).
Hoare has co-authored or contributed to the following publications:
Essay on the evolution of class in the UK in aBritish Council pamphlet,Posh: The Evolution of the Traditional British Brand (ed. Sorrel Hershberg, 1999).
An essay inLinder: Works 1976–2006 (2006), a collection aboutLinder Sterling.
Gabriel Orozco (2006), exhibition catalogue and texts, with Mark Godfrey.
Greetings from Darktown : an illustrator's miscellany, a collection of the work of Jonny Hannah, with texts by Hoare, Sheena Calvert andPeter Chrisp (2014).
Foreword toAs is the sea (2014), writing by students from theRoyal College of Art (ed. Jessie Bond).
Another Green World – Linn Botanic Gardens: Encounters with a Scottish Arcadia (2015), photographs byAlison Turnbull, text by Hoare.
^"A writer's life: Philip Hoare".The Telegraph. 13 February 2005. Archived fromthe original on 11 November 2012. Retrieved23 April 2025.he is an ascetic and a devout Roman Catholic
