Writing

As well as my novels, Daughters of India, The Last Kestrel and Far From My Father’s House, I have written short stories, plays and non-fiction.

My short story, The Second Chance, was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 after winning a national competition. It is also published in an anthology of new writing (The Mechanics’ Institute Review 4.)

My play, A Change of Air, was performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

My first book was non-fiction. Macau Remembers (1999, Oxford University Press). It marked the handover of one of the world’s oldest colonies, Macao, from Portugal to China.

I have two MAs, in Creative Writing and English Literature. I graduated with a First in English from King’s College, London. I am also a Fellow of the University of Michigan.

Journalism

For more than thirty years, I have combined fiction writing with being a full-time foreign news journalist. I started on The South China Morning Post in Hong Kong before joining the BBC in 1992. I have been with the BBC ever since, appearing across the full range of its news and current affairs programmes. I served as the BBC’s Correspondent in Hong Kong, Delhi and Washington. Since returning to London, I have reported worldwide, covering wars, crises and natural disasters, politics and social issues.

TV & documentaries

I also present. As a documentary maker, I have made award-winning programmes. These have included investigating Afghanistan, sex trafficking, blasphemy, fake medicines and many more.

I have been honoured by awards from the SONY Academy, Amnesty International, One World Media and the Association for International Broadcasting. In 2011, I was shortlisted as Journalist of the Year by the SONY Academy and by One World Media.