During the recent Ubud Writer’s Festival in Bali, Indonesia, where I was a guest speaker, I was asked by the literary magazine, Kill Your Darlings, about what I wished I knew about being a writer back in the day: I’ve been a journalist for over twenty years, and if you write about political issues, works…
Showing all posts tagged Journalism
#ReadPalestine
Through my UK/US publisher of The Palestine Laboratory, Verso, I was pleased to be involved in this recent initiative: A group of publishers has launched a week-long initiative encouraging people to read books by Palestinian authors and about Palestinian history by offering free ebooks. #ReadPalestine begins on Wednesday and runs until 5 December. The campaign…
Journalist responsibilities in a time of conflict
Soon after the 7 October attacks, University of Technology in Sydney organised a panel to discuss how the media covers Israel/Palestine. I spoke alongside many others and it was broadcast on ABC RN’s Big Ideas program: Rawan Damen Director-general, Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism Zahera Harb International Journalism Studies Cluster lead, City University, London, former…
The Palestine Laboratory wins prestigious Walkleys Book Award of 2023
I’m excited to announce that my book, The Palestine Laboratory, is the winner of the Walkleys Book Award of 2023. It’s Australia’s leading journalism prize, the equivalent of the Pulitzers. In a time of such grief, violence and anger in the Middle East and beyond, I’m managing a range of emotions but thankful to the judging…
The Palestine Laboratory secures short-listing for prestigious Moore Prize literary award
I’m excited to announce that my book, The Palestine Laboratory, has been selected as a short-list finalist in the Moore Prize, an international literary and human rights award, based in the UK. In June, my book was announced as a long-list finalist and now it’s down to six books. Here’s the official announcement: The Christopher…
The Palestine Laboratory is short-listed for best book of the year at the Walkley Awards
Yesterday I was rapt to discover that my book, The Palestine Laboratory, is a short-list finalist for best book of the year in Australia’s leading journalism prize, The Walkley Awards. After being recently long-listed, amongst 9 titles, I’m happy that my years-long investigation is now a a serious contender with two other books. Independent journalism…
The Palestine Laboratory scores Walkley finalist position
I’m excited to announce that my latest book, The Palestine Laboratory, published by Scribe in Australia and Verso in the US and UK, has been long-listed for Australia’s most prestigious journalism award, The Walkleys: I’m honoured to be a finalist alongside these fine other authors: Jackie Dent, The Great Dead Body Teachers, Ultimo Press Christine Kenneally,…
The AI “revolution” is piracy for authors
I recently discovered that some of my books are being used illegally to “train” AI models: This story in Books + Publishing explains what’s at stake: The Australian Society of Authors (ASA) has responded to the large-scale unauthorised use of books by Australian authors in a dataset used to train generative artificial intelligence. The training…
On not ignoring the struggles of Africa
My essay/book review in the US outlet The Markaz Review is on a new book by the great writer, Anjan Sundaram, Break-Up: A Reporter’s Marriage Amid a Central African War: The Central African Republic (CAR) is mostly ignored in the mainstream media, but in sparse depictions it’s often portrayed as a faraway nation bedeviled by…
Discussing Lachlan Murdoch with Paddy Manning
Journalist Paddy Manning has written a fascinating book on Lachlan Murdoch, the heir apparent of the global media empire, called The Successor. I interviewed him about the book and his methods behind it at this year’s Newcastle Writer’s Festival: