Benjamin joined King's in September 2016, having previously taught for many years at Birkbeck, University of London, where he co-founded and directed the undergraduate creative writing programme. He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia, Canada, which he attended with the support of a Commonwealth Scholarship.

He is the author of four acclaimed novels. The Bellwether Revivals (Simon & Schuster, 2012) was shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award, the Commonwealth Book Prize, and won le Prix du Roman Fnac and le Prix Baudelaire. The Ecliptic (Scribner, 2015) was shortlisted for the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award and the RSL Encore Award. A Station on the Path to Somewhere Better (Scribner, 2018) was shortlisted for the European Union Prize for Literature and the CWA Gold Dagger Award. The Young Accomplice (Penguin, 2022) was selected as one of the books of the year by The Times, Sunday Times, New Statesman, The Spectator, The Irish Times, and The Week; a serialised version of the novel was broadcast as a BBC Radio 4 Book at Bedtime. His newest work, Seascraper, will be published by Viking Penguin in July 2025.

Benjamin founded the PhD in Creative Writing programme at King’s and supervises a range of fiction projects at doctoral level as well as teaching undergraduate fiction writing workshops.

Research interests and PhD supervision

Benjamin supervises practice-based projects in fiction on the PhD in Creative Writing programme. His research interests and expertise span other formal disciplines of writing, including creative nonfiction and screenwriting.

Teaching

At King's, Benjamin has taught creative writing modules across a range of forms and genres as part of the BA English: prose fiction, drama, screenwriting, and creative nonfiction.

Selected publications

• Seascraper, Penguin Viking (2025)
• The Young Accomplice, Penguin Viking (2022)
• A Station on the Path to Somewhere Better, Scribner (2018)
• The Ecliptic, Scribner (2015)
• The Bellwether Revivals, Simon & Schuster (2012)