Who wrote the Book of Enoch and when?

The Book of Enoch is attributed to the patriarch Enoch himself, the seventh from Adam, who composed its writings as records of his heavenly journeys, astronomical knowledge, prophetic visions, and moral instruction. These physical books were entrusted to his son Methuselah for preservation, and in one passage the patriarch states he has written everything down for him so the wisdom would survive coming judgment (1 Enoch 82; Jubilees 4:17-19).

Enoch lived three hundred and sixty-five years and is described as the first to learn writing and to record the signs of heaven and the courses of the months. According to the account in the Book of the Secrets of Enoch, he wrote three hundred and sixty-six books on the signs of all creation during a period of sixty days in heaven, then handed them to his sons and remained on earth another thirty days before his final ascent (The Book of the Secrets of Enoch 68:1-5; Book Overview - The Book of the Secrets of Enoch).

The tradition presents these works as sacred artifacts bridging the antediluvian world and later ages, composed during Enoch’s lifetime rather than invented later, and they form the core of the larger Enochic corpus preserved in Ge’ez and other languages (Sacred Objects - Sacred Objects: The Books of Enoch; Characters - Characters: Enoch). No later historical date of composition appears in the sources beyond the span of Enoch’s own 365 years.