Martin Gelin is a journalist and award-winning author of seven books on American politics and culture, published in Sweden, and two books published internationally. For two decades, he worked as the U.S. Correspondent for Dagens Nyheter, a national newspaper in Sweden, and covered four presidential elections.

He has written features, reviews and commentary for The Guardian, The Washington Post, Bloomberg, The New York Times, New York Magazine, Foreign Policy, Slate, The Daily Beast, The New Republic, The Independent, The Prospect, Boston Review, The LA Review of Books, Granta Magazine and Harvard’s Nieman Lab, among others.

Martin Gelin has been interviewed by the BBC, CNN, NPR, Monocle, Quartz, Byline Times and The Times of India, and he’s a regular commentator on foreign affairs for Swedish TV and radio.

His two recent books were finalists for the August Prize, Sweden’s highest literary honor. He has also been awarded The Stockholm Prize and The Johan Hansson Prize for previous books. His work has been translated to seven languages, including Chinese and French.

After two decades in New York, he now lives in Paris, where he covers foreign affairs for international media. He is also a board member of the largest press club for English-speaking journalists in France, AAPA.

He has lectured on foreign affairs and culture at Columbia University, New York University, The Jaipur Literary Festival, The American Library in Paris, University of Hong Kong, Uppsala University, The Swedish Institute of International Affairs, the Nordic Council and the Swedish parliament.  

As a U.S. Correspondent for international media, he interviewed and profiled three presidents, and met with major names in politics and culture, including Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. He has interviewed Silicon Valley moguls like Reed Hastings and Daniel Ek, authors and scientists including Daniel Kahneman, Don Delillo, Lydia Davis, George Saunders, Zadie Smith and Fran Lebowitz, and artists and directors, including Martin Scorsese and Michael Haneke.

He started writing as a teenager, creating a fanzine about the British indie pop scene, and played football with Liam Gallagher at a music festival in 1994.

His books have been called “marvelous” (Joseph O’Neil, NYRB) and “stunning” (Martin Hägglund, Yale University) and his work has been praised by climate scientist Michael Mann, economist Gabriel Zucman, historians Rick Perlstein and Anne Nelson, and TV host Samantha Bee, among many others.

Praise for “Rules of Attraction: Why Soft Power Matters in Hard Times”

“A mesmerizing and informative defense of globalization and diversity.”

– Ulrika Knutsson, Dagens Nyheter

“A very exciting book”

– Morten Kjaerom, Director of the Raoul Wallenberg Institute

“In classic journalistic fashion, Gelin ventures out into the world to investigate the significance of soft power, particularly culture, in the geopolitical struggle. With a curious and critical eye, he recounts how the Gulf states are transforming oil revenue into soccer teams, museums, and art biennials, and how China is hosting the Olympics and spending billions on propaganda.”

- Aftonbladet

“He skillfully provides the reader with the keys to understanding the game behind the state-funded export of Korean culture and depicts in a gripping manner how the art world becomes a pawn in a game where Qatar and Saudi Arabia pump money into successful attempts to wash away associations with dictatorship and oppression.”

- GP

“A striking example of how soft power can play a role in security policy … His message is particularly relevant in our time, when greater focus must necessarily be placed on security policy – and also on the importance of culture in that context.”

– Svenska Dagbladet