Lives On The Line

This event explores the real life experiences of those reporting on international conflicts and wars, the incredible experiences these individuals undergo and at what cost - in terms of self, family, society and beyond. Kamin Mohammadi, author of The Cypress Tree: A Love Letter to Iran, will chair this discussion with Maziar Bahari and Ben Lawrence. Maziar Bahari left London in June 2009 to cover Iran's presidential election, believing he'd return to his pregnant fiancée, Paola, in just a few days, a week at most. In fact he would spend the next three months in Iran's most notorious prison, enduring brutal interrogation sessions while terrible threats were made to his family. The account of his ordeal is captured in his book Then They Came For Me. Ben Rawlence's Radio Congo is the first book to show the Congolese as people, not victims. Ben travelled on foot, by boat and by motorbike from North Kivu to Manono to document life in the aftermath of brutal upheaval.