Deborah Campbell is a 2016 Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction Finalist. Congrats!

Deborah Campbell is an award-winning writer who has reported from Iran, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, the UAE, Qatar, Israel, Palestine, Cuba, Mexico and Russia. Her work, much of which involves spending long periods of time in the societies she covers, has appeared in Harper’s, The Economist, Foreign Policy, The Guardian, New Scientist and other publications. She has won three National Magazine Awards for her foreign correspondence, and has guest lectured at Harvard, Berkeley and Zayed University in Dubai. Campbell teaches at the University of British Columbia.

A Disappearance in Damascus

Deborah Campbell travels undercover to Damascus, reporting on the exodus of Iraqis into Syria in the aftermath of the Iraq War. When her “fixer,” a charismatic Iraqi woman who has emerged as a community leader, is seized from her side by secret police, Campbell must spend the months that follow desperately trying to find her — all the while fearing she could be next. A riveting account of two women caught up in the shadowy politics behind today’s conflict, and a testimony to the courage of those who risk their lives to bring us the world’s news.