Sam Dalrymple

Sam Dalrymple tells the kind of history that people recognise in their own lives. Raised in Delhi, his work is shaped by years of travel across South and Central Asia. It also begins with families split by borders, cities divided by lines drawn in haste, and memories that refuse to stay put.

A historian, author and award-winning filmmaker, Dalrymple is the author of Shattered Lands, an international bestseller and one of the most widely acclaimed history books of recent years. Rather than treating the 1947 Partition as a single rupture, the book traces how a once-unified Indian Empire fractured into twelve modern nations within living memory. It further reveals how many of today’s conflicts are rooted not in ancient rivalries, but in hurried political decisions whose consequences are still unfolding.

From Aden to Assam, Lahore to Yangon, Sam Dalrymple approaches history from the ground, visiting borderlands, neglected cities and forgotten sites where the past remains physically present. This perspective underpins Project Dastaan, the peace-building initiative he co-founded to reconnect families displaced by Partition with the homes they lost, using digital storytelling and oral history.

Alongside his writing, Dalrymple has created critically acclaimed films and exhibitions shown at institutions including the Smithsonian, the V&A and the British Film Institute. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Spectator, TIME and The Economist, and he writes regularly on history, travel and place.

As a speaker, Sam Dalrymple speaks about borders, memory and identity with calm authority. He reminds us that the maps we inherit are neither as old nor as inevitable as we are often led to believe. Understanding how they were made is essential to navigating the world as it is today.