About Richard Dowden...
Richard Dowden first worked in Africa as a volunteer teacher at
a bush school in Uganda in the early 1970s. On his return to
Britain he was employed by a peace organisation in Northern Ireland
and then became a journalist, and was made Editor of The Catholic
Herald in 1976. After joining The Times foreign desk in 1980, he
reported from the Middle East and Africa, before being appointed
Africa Editor at The Independent when it was founded in 1986.
During the next nine years he visited almost every country in sub
Saharan Africa. He later became Diplomatic Editor.
In 1995 he was invited to join The Economist as Africa Editor continued to travel regularly to Africa. He left The Economist in 2001 and a year later, began working as a freelance journalist and writer. In November 2002 he was appointed Director of the Royal African Society.
In addition to writing extensively about Africa, he has made three full length documentaries on Africa for Channel 4 and the BBC as well as several shorter films. He also continues to write on African issues and appears frequently as a commentator on African affairs on the BBC, CNN, Sky News and other broadcast media.
His book: Africa: Altered States, Ordinary Miracles was published by Portobello Books in September 2008 and will be published in the US in March 2009. He is married with two daughters and lives in London.
Read the publisher's profile of Richard Dowden
