Peter Godwin
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Peter Godwin (born 4 December 1957) is a Zimbabwean author, journalist, screenwriter, documentary filmmaker, and former human rights lawyer. Best known for his writings concerning the breakdown of his native
Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...
, he has reported from more than 60 countries and written several books. He served as president of
PEN American Center PEN America (formerly PEN American Center), founded in 1922 and headquartered in New York City, is a nonprofit organization that works to defend and celebrate free expression in the United States and worldwide through the advancement of liter ...
from 2012 to 2015 and resides in
Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
, New York.


Early life and education

His mother was of English descent and was a former hospital doctor. His father was an engineer and is of
Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...
Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
ancestry. His father's immediate family were killed in
The Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...
. Godwin grew up with his family in Rhodesia, where he attended St. George's College. He was conscripted into the
British South Africa Police The British South Africa Police (BSAP) was, for most of its existence, the police force of Rhodesia (renamed Zimbabwe in 1980). It was formed as a paramilitary force of mounted infantrymen in 1889 by Cecil Rhodes' British South Africa Company, fro ...
at the age of seventeen to fight in the
Rhodesian Bush War The Rhodesian Bush War, also called the Second as well as the Zimbabwe War of Liberation, was a civil conflict from July 1964 to December 1979 in the unrecognised country of Rhodesia (later Zimbabwe-Rhodesia). The conflict pitted three for ...
. In 1978, his older sister Jain and her fiancé were killed when their car hit an army ambush. Another sister,
Georgina Godwin Georgina may refer to: Names * Georgina (name), a feminine given name Places Australia * Georgina, Queensland, a locality in the Shire of Boulia, Queensland * Georgina Basin, a large sedimentary basin in Australia * Georgina River, a riv ...
, has worked as a journalist, broadcast presenter and podcaster, in both Zimbabwe (until 2001) and the UK. Peter Godwin studied law at
Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...
and
international relations International relations (IR), sometimes referred to as international studies and international affairs, is the scientific study of interactions between sovereign states. In a broader sense, it concerns all activities between states—such a ...
at
Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to th ...
.


Career


Early career

Godwin was formerly a foreign correspondent for ''
The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, w ...
'' (London), covering wars in Angola, Mozambique, Namibia, and Zimbabwe. Later he was the chief correspondent for the BBC's foreign affairs program, directing documentaries on Cuba, Czechoslovakia, and the Balkans. His early books include ''Rhodesians Never Die: The Impact of War and Political Change on White Rhodesia c1970 – 1980'', co-written with Ian Hancock; ''The Three of Us'', co-written with Joanna Coles; and ''Wild at Heart: Man and Beast in Southern Africa'', with photographs by Chris Johns.


Journalism

Godwin is a contributor to ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'', and '' Vanity Fair'', among other publications. In 2008 he wrote in the ''Times'' about the small islands of Likoma and Chizumulu on Lake Malawi, which are lacustrine exclaves of Malawi located in Mozambican territorial waters. He has also reviewed books for the New York Times Book Review. In 2007, he called for the international community to "make it clear" to South African president
Thabo Mbeki Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki KStJ (; born 18 June 1942) is a South African politician who was the second president of South Africa from 14 June 1999 to 24 September 2008, when he resigned at the request of his party, the African National Congress (ANC ...
"that he, and the new South Africa, have a special moral obligation to help a nearby people who are oppressed and disenfranchised, having been assisted in its own struggle by just such pressure." In 2008, Godwin suggested in ''The New York Times'' that the withdrawal of participating countries from the 2010 World Cup in South Africa might persuade Mbeki to use his country's economic power to draw Mugabe's rule in Zimbabwe "to an end in weeks rather than months."


Other professional activities

In 2012, Godwin was named President of
PEN American Center PEN America (formerly PEN American Center), founded in 1922 and headquartered in New York City, is a nonprofit organization that works to defend and celebrate free expression in the United States and worldwide through the advancement of liter ...
, the largest branch of the world's oldest literary and human rights organisation. On 20 March 2012, Peter Godwin, as the incoming President of PEN American Center, read poetry by the imprisoned, Liu Xiaobo, with outgoing PEN President, Kwame Anthony Appiah. Godwin is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He has been a Guggenheim Fellow, an Orwell Fellow, and a MacDowell Fellow, and has also taught writing at the New School, Princeton University, and Columbia University.


Books and documentaries


''Industry of Death''

Godwin's film ''The Industry of Death'' (1993) was an investigation of Thailand's sex industry.


''Mukiwa''

In 1997, Godwin published ''Mukiwa: A White Boy in Africa''. A memoir about growing up in Southern Rhodesia in the 1960s and 1970s during the
Rhodesian Bush War The Rhodesian Bush War, also called the Second as well as the Zimbabwe War of Liberation, was a civil conflict from July 1964 to December 1979 in the unrecognised country of Rhodesia (later Zimbabwe-Rhodesia). The conflict pitted three for ...
, it was described by the ''Boston Globe'' as "devastatingly brilliant" and " e of the best memoirs to come out of Africa." The book won The Orwell Prize in 1997.


''When a Crocodile Eats the Sun''

In 2006, his second memoir, ''
When a Crocodile Eats the Sun ''When a Crocodile Eats the Sun'' is a 2006 book of memoirs by Peter Godwin. It is a continuation of Godwin's earlier memoirs, ''Mukiwa''. The book was published by Picador. Content Godwin, a White Zimbabwean follows the escalating political ch ...
'', was published. It details the ebbing of his father's life, set to the backdrop of modern-day Zimbabwe, and his discovery of his father's Polish Jewish roots.


''The Fear''

Godwin's book, ''The Fear: Robert Mugabe and the Martyrdom of Zimbabwe'' (2011), chronicles the systematic campaign of murder and torture unleashed by Zimbabwe's autocratic ruler following his defeat at the polls. Godwin was interviewed by Terry Gross on ''Fresh Air'' (
NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...
) in March 2011 about the situation in Zimbabwe since the 2008 general election. ''The Fear'' was selected as a best book of 2011 by The New Yorker, The Economist, and Publishers Weekly.


Personal life

Godwin was married to
Joanna Coles Joanna Louise Coles (born 20 April 1962) was chief content officer for Hearst Communications, Hearst Magazines from 2016 to 2018. She has won awards for journalism, including, when she was editor-in-chief, ''Cosmopolitan (magazine), Cosmopolit ...
, living together in the
Upper West Side The Upper West Side (UWS) is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by Central Park on the east, the Hudson River on the west, West 59th Street to the south, and West 110th Street to the north. The Upper West ...
of Manhattan with their sons, Thomas and Hugo, who as of November 2019 were aged 20 and 18 respectively, and with a dog, Phoebe. His daughter, Holly, who was 25 years old as of November 2019, is based in the UK. In July 2019, Coles filed for divorce from Godwin.Joanna Coles files for divorce from husband Peter Godwin
PageSix. 13 July 2019


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Godwin, Peter 1957 births Living people Alumni of St. George's College, Harare Alumni of the University of Oxford Alumni of the University of Cambridge British South Africa Police officers People from Harare Rhodesian memoirists Rhodesian military personnel of the Bush War Rhodesian writers Zimbabwean emigrants to the United States Zimbabwean exiles Zimbabwean journalists Zimbabwean memoirists Zimbabwean people of British descent Zimbabwean people of Polish-Jewish descent Zimbabwean writers Writers about Africa 21st-century Zimbabwean writers 20th-century Zimbabwean writers