Oliver Balch

{{Short description|British author and freelance writer|bot=PearBOT 5}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

Oliver Balch is a British author and freelance writer who specializes in business and international affairs. He has written for The Guardian, the Daily Telegraph, Huffington Post, The Spectator, Literary Review, and the Financial Times.{{cite web|title=Oliver Balch|url=http://www.georginacapel.com/our-author/oliver-balch/|website=Georgina Capel Associates ltd|accessdate=20 April 2018}}

Balch was educated at Felsted School.{{cite journal |editor1-last=Garner |editor1-first=Joel |title=Travel writer publishes book about life in rural Wales |journal=The Old Felstedian 2016 |date=11 January 2017 |page=4 |url=https://issuu.com/felsted/docs/the_old_felstedian_2016 |access-date=21 September 2023}} He graduated from Durham University (Hatfield College) in 1998 with a first-class degree in History and subsequently completed an MPhil at Cambridge.{{cite web|title=Hatfield College Alumni|url=https://www.dur.ac.uk/hatfield.college/alumni/|website=Durham University|accessdate=20 April 2018|language=en}}

After leaving university he spent a year living in Bolivia and later moved to Argentina, where he began writing freelance.{{cite web|title=Editor to Author: An interview with Oliver Balch - Faber & Faber Blog|url=https://www.faber.co.uk/blog/editor-to-author-an-interview-with-oliver-balch/|website=Faber & Faber Blog|accessdate=20 April 2018|date=16 May 2016}} In 2018 he received a PhD in Latin American Studies from the University of Cambridge (Christ's College). His thesis was entitled "Pulp Fictions: The Role of Detachable Corporate Social Responsibility in Building Legitimacy for Uruguay’s Largest Ever Foreign Investment".

He has had three books published by Faber & Faber: Viva South America! A Journey Round a Restless Continent (2009),{{cite web|title=Oliver Balch |url=https://www.faber.co.uk/author/oliver-balch/ |publisher=Faber & Faber |accessdate=20 April 2018}} India Rising: Tales from a Changing Nation (2012), and Under the Tump: Sketches of Real Life on the Welsh Borders (2016).

Oliver and his wife Emma are co-owners of Pottery Cottage, Clyro and are co-founders of the social enterprise, The Story of Books, based in Hay-on-Wye.