"I have been a journalist for more than 20 years now, writing for a variety of international media from three continents. Throughout my career I have focused on the human stories behind the headlines, and my first book – Cast Away: Stories of Survival from Europe’s Refugee Crisis – used the real-life experiences of five people to explore how the crisis unfolded.
"My career began in 2002 in Cambodia, where I undertook a journalism internship at the English-language newspaper, The Phnom Penh Post. My experiences there gave me a great grounding in journalism, and a taste for working overseas.
"That was a topic I continued to follow closely when I re-located to Brussels in 2013 to cover the European Union and general European news for The Independent, TIME, the Evening Standard and others.
"The publication of Cast Away in 2016 allowed me to step back from reporting on the daily news, and focus on longer-form articles. My stories and comment pieces have appeared in publications including The New York Times, Newsweek, Monocle magazine and the Irish Times, and I continue to report regularly for TIME magazine.
"My latest move in September 2018 was to The Netherlands, where I recently finished my second book, an examination of the causes of extremism told through the eyes of people who have been drawn to radical groups. It will be published by Granta in Spring 2022."
"My next move was to Argentina, where I worked for a while on the Buenos Aires Herald, before travelling north through Bolivia and Peru and freelancing for publications including the Vancouver Sun and The Independent. Returning to London in 2004, I did reporting and editing shifts on The Times, the Sunday Telegraph and The Telegraph, before becoming Deputy News Editor of The Telegraph's website.
"But the pull of life abroad remained strong and I moved to Bangkok, Thailand, in 2006 to work as a Correspondent for Agence France-Presse. It was a hectic three years, with coups, hurricanes and protests to keep me busy, and in 2009 I moved to Islamabad to become AFP's first Pakistan and Afghanistan Correspondent.
"I returned to London in 2011, taking a position as Deputy Foreign Editor of The Independent newspaper just as the Arab Spring was getting underway. I was able to report from Syria, and started investigating Europe's reaction to its increasing numbers of refugees.