Barbara Demick is an American journalist. She was the Beijing bureau chief of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

''. She is also known for her books '' Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea,'' ''Eat the Buddha: Life and Death in a Tibetan Town,'' and ''Daughters of the Bamboo Grove.''

Biography

Demick grew up in

Ridgewood, New Jersey Ridgewood is a Village (New Jersey), village in Bergen County, New Jersey, Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Ridgewood is a suburban commuter town, bedroom community of New York City, located approximately northwest of Midtown M ...

. She attended

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

, graduating with a bachelor's degree in economic history. Demick was a correspondent for ''

The Philadelphia Inquirer ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'', often referred to simply as ''The Inquirer'', is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded on June 1, 1829, ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is the third-longest continuously operating da ...

'' in Eastern Europe from 1993 to 1997. Along with photographer John Costello, she produced a series of articles that ran 1994–1996 following life on one

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ), ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'' is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 2 ...

street over the course of the war in Bosnia. The series won the

George Polk Award The George Polk Awards in Journalism are a series of American journalism awards presented annually by Long Island University in New York in the United States. A writer for Idea Lab, a group blog hosted on the website of PBS, described the awar ...

for international reporting, the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for international reporting and was a finalist for the Pulitzer in the features category. She was stationed in the Middle East for the newspaper between 1997 and 2001. In 2001, Demick moved to the ''Los Angeles Times'' and became the newspaper's first bureau chief in Korea. Demick reported extensively on

human rights in North Korea The human rights record of the North Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea is often considered to be the worst in the world and has been globally condemned, with the United Nations and groups such as Human Rights Watch and Freedom House h ...

, interviewing large numbers of refugees in China and South Korea. She focused on economic and social changes inside North Korea and on the situation of North Korean women sold into marriages in China. She wrote an extensive series of articles about life inside the North Korean city of

Chongjin Chŏngjin (; ) is the capital of North Korea's North Hamgyong Province (함경북도) and the country's List of cities in North Korea, third-largest city. Sometimes called the City of Iron, it is located in the northeast of the country. History ...

. In 2005, Demick was a co-winner of the American Academy of Diplomacy's Arthur Ross Award for Distinguished Reporting & Analysis on Foreign Affairs. In 2006, her reports about North Korea won the

Overseas Press Club The Overseas Press Club of America (OPC) was founded in 1939 in New York City by a group of foreign correspondents. The wire service reporter Carol Weld was a founding member, as was the war correspondent Peggy Hull. The club seeks to maintain ...

's Joe and Laurie Dine Award for Human Rights Reporting and the

Asia Society The Asia Society is a 501(c)(3) organization that focuses on educating the world about Asia. It has several centers in the United States (Manhattan, Washington, D.C., Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle) and around the world (Hong Ko ...

's Osborn Elliott Prize for Excellence in Asian Journalism. That same year, Demick was also named print journalist of the year by the

Los Angeles Press Club The Los Angeles Press Club is an American journalism organization founded in 1913. It honors journalists through its annual National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards and SoCal Journalism Awards. As of 2023, the Los Angeles Press Club hosted ...

. In 2010, she won the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction for her work, '' Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea''. The book was also a finalist for the U.S.'s most prestigious literary prize, the

National Book Award The National Book Awards (NBA) are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. ...

. and for the National Book Critics Circle Award. An animated feature film based on the book and sharing the same title was planned to be directed by Andy Glynne. The project launched in 2012 and a pilot was released in 2015. Her first book, ''Logavina Street'', was republished in an updated edition in April 2012 by Spiegel & Grau, a division of Random House. Granta published the book in the U.K. under the title, ''Besieged: Life Under Fire on a Sarajevo Street''. Demick was a visiting professor at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

in 2006-2007 teaching Coverage of Repressive Regimes through the Ferris Fellowship at the Council of the Humanities. She moved to Beijing for the ''Los Angeles Times ''in 2007. She is also an occasional contributor to The New Yorker. She is the author of ''Logavina Street: Life and Death in a Sarajevo Neighborhood'' (Andrews & McMeel, 1996). Her second book, '' Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea,'' was published by Spiegel & Grau/Random House in December 2009 and Granta Books in 2010. Her third book ''Eat the Buddha: Life and Death in a Tibetan Town'', focusing on the life of Tibetan people in Ngawa, Sichuan, China, was published in July 2020 by Random House.

Awards

* 2012 Shorenstein Award for Asia coverage

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

* 2012 International Human Rights Book Award for German-edition of Nothing to Envy. * 2011 Finalist,

National Book Critics Circle The National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) is an American nonprofit organization (501(c) organization, 501(c)(3)) with more than 700 members. It is the professional association of American book review editors and critics, known primarily for the N ...

award for non-fiction. * 2011 Finalist,

for non-fiction * 2010: Awarded, BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction, '' Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea'' * 2006: Awarded, Overseas Press Club's Joe and Laurie Dine Award for Human Rights Reporting * 2006: Awarded, Asia Society's Osborn Elliott Prize for Excellence in Asian Journalism * 2006: Awarded,

Print Journalist of the Year * 2005: Awarded, American Academy of Diplomacy's Arthur Ross Award for Distinguished Reporting & Analysis on Foreign Affairs * 1994: Awarded,

George Polk Awards The George Polk Awards in Journalism are a series of American journalism awards presented annually by Long Island University in New York in the United States. A writer for Idea Lab, a group blog hosted on the website of PBS, described the awar ...

, ''

'' * 1994: Awarded, Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award, ''

'' * 1994: Nominated,

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

, ''

References

External links

* Spiegel & Gra

* Barbara Demick
''Nothing to Envy: Ordinary lives in North Korea''
on

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Website for ''Nothing to Envy''

Excerpt of ''Nothing to Envy''
in ''

The Paris Review ''The Paris Review'' is a quarterly English-language literary magazine established in Paris in 1953 by Harold L. Humes, Peter Matthiessen, and George Plimpton. In its first five years, ''The Paris Review'' published new works by Jack Kerouac, ...

''. Fall 2009
Excerpt of ''Nothing to Envy''
in ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

''. Nov. 2, 2009
Video: Barbara Demick discusses ''Nothing to Envy''
at the

, New York, Jan. 7, 2010 {{DEFAULTSORT:Demick, Barbara American women journalists Living people Scholars of North Korea Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) Writers from Ridgewood, New Jersey Yale College alumni 21st-century American women