After taking his BA in English literature from Pembroke College, Cambridge, Tim Smith-Laing moved to Oxford, to take an MSt in early modern literature at Balliol College, followed by a DPhil in late medieval and early modern mythography at Merton College. Outside Oxford, he undertook research at the École Normale Supérieure and teaching in Communications at Sciences Politiques in Paris. As a college lecturer in literature at Jesus College, Oxford for three years, he taught early modern literature, cultural history, and the theory of criticism, before moving on to concentrate on writing full time in 2013.
Since then he has carved out a position writing and teaching for both academic and general audiences. Alongside brief guides to work by Derrida, Butler, and Foucault published by Routledge, he has written on subjects ranging from early modern philosophy to Hieronymus Bosch, Paul Valéry, and The Monkees. A book critic at The Telegraph, his main strand of professional writing is an art critic at Apollo, Frieze, and Canvas. He is also contributor to the forthcoming volume Contemporary Kingdom II: The Saudi Art World Now.
As well as teaching on the Executive Master in Cultural Leadership co-convened by Maastricht and London’s Royal Academy of Arts, he is a regular guest lecturer at the RA.