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Wilfrid John Joseph Sheed (born December 27, 1930) is an English-born American novelist and essayist.

He was born in London to Francis "Frank" Sheed and Mary "Maisie" Ward, prominent Catholic publishers (Sheed & Ward) in the UK and the USA in the mid-20th century. Wilfrid Sheed spent his childhood in both England and the United States before attending Oxford University.

His first novel, A Middle Class Education (1961), was based on his experiences at Oxford. His biography Frank and Maisie was about his parents' literary establishment and intellectual world. He has written satirical novels about journalism and in recent years memoirs. He recently published a book on American music, entitled The House that George Built with a little help from Irving, Cole and a Crew of about Fifty.

Garrison Keillor reviewed the book as follows, in part:Golden Age of American Song has been saluted and high-faluted in books and wept over repeatedly, but “The House That George Built” is a big rich stew of an homage that makes you want to listen to Gershwin and Berlin and Porter and Arlen all over again ... Sheed's jazzy prose is a joy to read. It goes catapulting along, digressing like mad, never pedantic, a little frantic, which is just right: the jazz song, like all true art, is a flight from depression, indifference, the cold blank stare, the earnest clammy touch. The House That George Built - Wilfrid Sheed - Books - Review - New York Times.

This author page uses material from the Wikipedia article "Wilfrid Sheed", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0