Robert Rowland Smith was for seven years a Prize Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford and is a consultant, lecturer and writer on philosophy, literature and psychoanalysis. He has written for The Independent

The Independent

The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...

 and The Evening Standard, been profiled in The Sunday Telegraph, Time Out and The Observer

The Observer

The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...

, and contributed to books on philosophy for children. As well as broadcasting for BBC Radio

BBC Radio

BBC Radio is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927. For a history of BBC radio prior to 1927 see British Broadcasting Company...

 and television, he has contributed to the Philosophy Bites podcast series and currently has a column on everyday dilemmas in the Sunday Times Magazine.

Biography

Robert Rowland Smith has published on philosophy, literature and psychoanalysis, including Derrida and Autobiography (Cambridge University Press, 1995) and Death-Drive: Freudian Hauntings in Literature and Art (Edinburgh University Press, 2010). His book, Breakfast with Socrates: The Philosophy of Everyday Life, has appeared in translation around the world.

Smith has taught in the UK, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

, and California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

; he was invited by the British Council

British Council

The British Council is a United Kingdom-based organisation specialising in international educational and cultural opportunities. It is registered as a charity both in England and Wales, and in Scotland...

 to undertake a European lecture tour, and was closely involved with the Oxford Amnesty Lectures. He has spoken at the Institute of Contemporary Arts

Institute of Contemporary Arts

The Institute of Contemporary Arts is an artistic and cultural centre on The Mall in London, just off Trafalgar Square. It is located within Nash House, part of Carlton House Terrace, near the Duke of York Steps and Admiralty Arch...

, the Hayward Gallery

Hayward Gallery

The Hayward Gallery is an art gallery within the Southbank Centre, part of an area of major arts venues on the South Bank of the River Thames, in central London, England. It is sited adjacent to the other Southbank Centre buildings and also the Royal National Theatre and British Film Institute...

, the French Institute, The Royal Society of Arts and the London School of Economics

London School of Economics

The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...

.

Smith is a faculty member at The School of Life, where he runs a breakfast Club, teaches courses on Love and Family and practices constellations. He is a founding editor of the award-winning journal, Angelaki

Angelaki

Angelaki: Journal of the Theoretical Humanities is an academic journal in philosophy and literary theory founded in 1993. Since 1998, it has been published by Routledge. In 1996, while it was still an independent publication, the journal was named "Best New Journal" in the annual awards of the...

, to which he has contributed articles and sits both on the editorial board and that of its associated book series, Angelaki Humanities.

In conjunction with his literary ventures, Smith is also an independent management consultant. He specializes on issues of strategy and change with boards and senior teams as well as coaching chief executives. His clients have included the Foreign Office, English Heritage

English Heritage

English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...

, Pearson

Pearson PLC

Pearson plc is a global media and education company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is both the largest education company and the largest book publisher in the world, with consumer imprints including Penguin, Dorling Kindersley and Ladybird...

 and Barclays Bank.

Having lived for many years in Oxford

Oxford

The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 and Los Angeles

Los Ángeles

Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

, Robert has returned to his native London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 where he lives with his wife. He has three daughters.

External links

• Official website: bio
• Radio interview on Philosophy Talk
  Philosophy Talk
  Philosophy Talk is a talk radio program co-hosted by John Perry and Ken Taylor, who are professors at Stanford University. The show is also available as a podcast, available for purchase. The program deals both with fundamental problems of philosophy and with the works of famous philosophers,...