Max Leonard

Max writes about cycling, mountains and the outdoors, combining history, geography and culture with personal narratives of exploration and discovery. Notable books include Lanterne Rouge: the Last Man in the Tour de France (Yellow Jersey, 2014), Higher Calling: Cycling’s Obsession with Mountains (Yellow Jersey, 2017) and most recently A Cold Spell: A Human History of Ice (Bloomsbury, 2024), which was Book of the Week in The Times and was described as “bracingly original” by Michael Palin and as “a book of limitless fascinations” by Olivia Laing.

In 2016 he founded Isola Press, an award-winning publisher of adventures in archives, outdoor culture and visual history, for which he recently co-authored Mountain Style: British Outdoor Clothing 1953–2000 (2024). He is the ghostwriter behind two Sunday Times Bestsellers and a rock musician memoir, as well as a book by a mountain-biking pioneer and smaller things for a legendary racing driver, famous spy-film makers and others. He lives in London but always has mountains, in particular the French Alps, on his mind.

Photo courtesy of Emily Maye