About Humphrey Hawksley

Humphrey Hawksley has reported on key trends, events and conflicts from all over the world.

His work as a BBC foreign correspondent has taken him to crises on every continent. He was expelled from Sri Lanka, opened the BBC’s television bureau in China, arrested in Serbia and initiated a global campaign against enslaved children in the chocolate industry. The campaign continues today.

His television documentaries include The Curse of Gold and Bitter Sweet examining human rights abuse in global trade; Aid Under Scrutiny on the failures of international development; Old Man Atom that investigates the global nuclear industry; and Danger: Democracy at Work on the risks of bringing Western-style democracy too quickly to some societies.

Humphrey is the author of the acclaimed ‘Future History’ series Dragon Strike, Dragon Fire and The Third World War that explores world conflict. He has published four international thrillers, Ceremony of Innocence, Absolute Measures, Red Spirit and Security Breach, together with the non-fiction Democracy Kills: What’s so good about the Vote – a tie-in to his TV documentary on the pitfalls of the modern-day path to democracy from dictatorship.

His work has appeared in the The Guardian, The Times, Financial Times, International Herald Tribune, Yale Global and other publications. His university lectures include Columbia, Cambridge, University College London and the London Business School. He is a regular speaker and panellist including at Intelligence Squared and the Royal Geographical Society, and he has presented his work and moderated at many literary festivals.

Humphrey talks journalism, fiction and Rake Ozenna thrillers on the Douglas Coleman Show

Humphrey in the Daily Express

Humphrey on BookTrib

Discussing Imaginary Borders and Changing Warfare with Man on Edge author, Humphrey Hawksley

In conversation with BBC Five Live’s Rhod Sharp:

When foreign correspondents come off the road, or slow down, they have a lot of stories to tell. Not so many make the transition as successfully as our next guest, following in a distinguished line of BBC people who turned to fiction, most notably Eric Blair, who wrote as George Orwell, and Frederick Forsyth who was a sub editor in BBC TV News. For the BBC Humphrey Hawksley covered civil wars in the Balkans and Sri Lanka, from whence he was expelled for upsetting the government with his reporting and in 1994 he opened the BBC’s first TV bureau in Beijing. Our conversation began with his new novel Man on Edge set in the tense region of Arctic Europe where the borders of Finland, Norway and Russia run together.

Monocle Radio Meet the Writers – Humphrey talks to Georgina Godwin

Humphrey Hawksley is an author, commentator and broadcaster. His work as a BBC foreign correspondent took him all over the world, giving him a global perspective that informs his writing. His new book, ‘Man on Edge’, puts the reader at the centre of a geopolitical crisis in Moscow.

In conversation with Lesley Dolphin on BBC Radio Suffolk

Humphrey chats to Lesley Dolphin about MAN ON EDGE, the rise of China, Fred Olsen cruises and a Suffolk childhood of wheat fields and country dancing.

In conversation with Lisa Francesca Nand on The Big Travel Podcast

Humphrey chats to Lisa Francesca Nand on The Big Travel Podcast about being expelled from Sri Lanka, death threats in the Philippines and Cold War espionage thrillers.