I am a writer and journalist by trade and a drummer whenever allowed. I was born in eastern England in 1962 and live in New York. Temperamentally I’m a storyteller, an invisible mender, an alchemist and a diplomat, with a dab of holy fool thrown in. I’m looking to explore new imaginative paths in words and sound. My nightmares involve the news industry, technology and society destroying each others’ best selves. When awake I work for the opposite outcome as a freelance editor, writer and consultant.
Among other things, that led me in 2021 to help create the groundbreaking educational startup Yuno. Check it out. You might even learn something new!
My journalism was perpetrated over more than 30 years as a foreign correspondent and editor with Reuters and more recently as a columnist for Reuters Breakingviews and News-Decoder, focusing mainly on Latin America, where I lived for most of the 1990s. After joining Reuters in London, I worked primarily in Madrid, El Salvador, Mexico, Miami and New York, with extensive assignments to Peru, Cuba, Chile and Nicaragua, among other locations. I’ve taught journalism ethics and advocated for greater awareness of PTSD among news workers.
I’ve published two genre-bending novels, “The Malice Box” and “The Secret Fire,” which have been translated into a total of 13 languages so far. I get better each time I do one and am hopeful the next one(s) will make new friends.
I speak Spanish and French fluently, get by in German and can read Portuguese. I have also worked as an English teacher in Paris and studied Indigenous languages and literature in Mexico. I’ve survived an 8.1 magnitude earthquake, a kidnapping attempt, a car bombing (my car) and even seven years of following the New York Knicks (there won’t be an eighth).
I believe the world needs more cowbell, but like everything else you may read here, that’s only my opinion.