Laurence Deonna (born 1937) is a Swiss journalist, writer and photographer who in the late 1960s became a celebrated war reporter in the Middle-East. In 1987, on the basis of her articles, books and photographs promoting international understanding and improvements to the status of women, she was awarded the

UNESCO Prize for Peace Education The UNESCO Prize for Peace Education has been awarded annually since 1981. The main goal of UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting w ...

. Deonna, who continues to write, has published 12 widely translated books.

Biography

Born in 1937 in

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

, Laurence Deonna is the daughter of the economist and politician Raymond Deonna, who headed the board of the former ''Journal de Genève'', and his wife Anne-Marie Vernet-Faesch. She left school before matriculating, attended art school in London and returned to Geneva to work in an art gallery. She was married for a short period between 1961 and 1963. In 1967, invited to report on the

Six-Day War The Six-Day War (, ; ar, النكسة, , or ) or June War, also known as the 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states (primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, S ...

, she embarked on a long career as a journalist in the Middle-East, where she took a special interest in the lives of Arab women. Realizing that books offered a more lasting way than newspapers of covering countries in depth, she went on to publish many lengthy accounts of her trips abroad over the next 40 years. They were frequently illustrated with her photographs. Her works not only focus on women but reveal her firm conviction that many of the world's problems could be solved if greater concern was devoted to achieving peace. As a result, in 1989 she was awarded the UNESCO Prize for Peace Education. In Switzerland, she was a strong proponent of the 1989 (unsuccessful) referendum to abolish the Swiss army. Her role as a feminist can be seen from the central place she gives to women in all her writings.

Selected works

*''Moyen-Orient – femmes du combat, de la terre et du sable'', Labor et Fides, Geneva, 1970. *''Le Yémen que j’ai vu'', 24 Heures, Lausanne, 1982. *''Yémen''. Arthaud, Paris, 1983. *''La guerre à deux voix. Témoignages de "femmes ennemies"'', Le Centurion, Paris / Labor et Fides, Geneva 1986 *''Syriens, Syriennes (1992-1994)'', Zoé, Geneva, 1986. *''Persianeries - Reportages dans l’Iran des mollahs (1985-1998)'', Zoé, Genève, 1998. *''Kazakhstan – Bourlinguer en Asie centrale post-communiste'', Zoé, Geneva 2001

In English

*''On Persian roads: glimpses of revolutionary Iran, 1985-1998'', Pueblo, Colo, Passeggiata Press, 1999. *''Syrians : a travelogue (1992-1994)'', Pueblo, Colo, Passeggiata Press, 1997. *''Yemen''. Boulder, Colo, Three Continents Press, 1991. *''Travels through Kazakhstan : after the fall of the Soviet Empire'', London, Athena Press, 2010.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Deonna, Laurence 1937 births Living people Writers from Geneva Swiss women photographers 20th-century Swiss photographers Swiss women journalists 20th-century Swiss journalists Swiss writers in French 21st-century Swiss photographers 21st-century Swiss journalists 21st-century Swiss women writers Swiss pacifists Swiss feminists 20th-century women photographers 21st-century women photographers Photographers from Geneva