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Rachel Cooke

Rachel Cooke

Rachel Cooke was a British journalist, author and, in 2010, a judge for the Lost Man Booker Prize

Born in Sheffield, Rachel Cooke began her career as a reporter for The Sunday Times. She wrote for the New Statesman, as a television critic, and for The Observer, as – among other things – an interviewer, food columnist and reviewer of art and graphic novels. In 2006 she was named Interviewer of the Year at the British Press Awards and Feature Writer of the Year at the What the Papers Say Awards. In 2010 she was named Writer of the Year at the PPA Awards for her interviews in Esquire. Cooke was married to the film critic and novelist Anthony Quinn, and lived in London. Her book, Her Brilliant Career: Ten Extraordinary Women of the Fifties, was published in 2013. She died on 14 November 2025, aged 56.