Narratives from the Front Lines: The Dangers of Working as an Investigative Journalist in the Middle East March 11, 2008

Deborah Campbell, freelance journalist and adjunct professor of Creative Writing at UBC, has just returned from another sortee into some of the hottest conflict zones of the Middle East. During the past six years she has filed reports from Iran, Syria, Dubai, Jordan, Egypt, Israel and Palestine for the likes of Harpers, The Guardian, Utne, The Economist and The Walrus. She will talk about the strategies required to live in and report from conflict zones as a freelancer, overcoming gender and cultural barriers to employ her immersive approach to field research. Her talk will include a slide presentation, and a Q&A session.

Admission free.

This event is sponsored and hosted by UBC Creative Writing. For more information, or to arrange an interview with Deborah, please contact Prof. Andreas Schroeder at 604 822-6564 or apschroeder@dccnet.com.

Deborah Campbell is an award-winning writer whose work has taken her to Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Iran, Dubai, Russia, Cuba, Israel and Palestine. She is the author of This Heated Place, a literary journey inside the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Her writing has appeared in The Walrus, The Economist, Adbusters, New Scientist, Asia Times, Ms. magazine, Canadian Geographic, Utne, the Guardian. Her latest piece, on Iraqi refugees, will appear in the April 2008 issue of Harper's magazine. Her radio documentaries and monologues have been broadcast on CBC radio and National Public Radio. The winner of two 2007 National Magazine Awards for her reportage on Iran, she is an adjunct professor in the Creative Writing Department at UBC. Her website is http://www.deborahcampbell.ca/

Official Website: http://www.creativewriting.ubc.ca