Adrian Levy
Encyclopedia
Adrian Levy is an award-winning journalist who currently writes for The Guardian
.
Specialising in long-form investigative work, his pieces most often filed from Asia are published in The Guardian's Weekend magazine. Levy's work has also appeared in The Observer
, The Sunday Times
magazine, and The Mail on Sunday
, as well as being syndicated in the US, Australasia and across Europe.
Levy has also written three non-fiction books. His fourth, entitled The Meadow, will be published in 2011 by Harper Collins, in Britain. Levy has also co-produced documentaries for the BBC
and Channel 4
, as well as broadcasting on BBC Radio 4
and the BBC World Service
. Much of his work has been a collaboration with the journalist and author Cathy Scott-Clark.
In 2009, Levy and Scott-Clark were jointly made British Journalist of the Year at the One World Media awards, having been British Foreign Journalist of the Year in 2004. They were runner-ups in the British Press Awards
as Feature Writer of the Year in 2006 and 2009.
, working also for the Bolton Evening News and as a chief reporter on the Yorkshire Post
before becoming a staff reporter on The Sunday Times
in 1994. There he became deputy editor of its investigative Insight Section, before being posted, in 1998, as a foreign correspondent in South Asia. He left to join The Guardian
in 2001.
, and in The Observer
, the New York Times named it a 'book of the year'.
Having been black-listed from travelling to Burma, Levy and Scott-Clark were in 2001 invited back by the military government, in a trip sponsored by the UN, becoming the first journalists to be invited to attend a cabinet meeting after being held for seven days in Rangoon under house arrest. Writing and broadcasting regularly about the country in the years that followed, Levy also covered the uprisings of 2007 and 2008. However, he courted controversy shortly after by co-authoring a piece in The Guardian
that questioned the efficacy of Aung San Suu Kyi
, the jailed leader of the Burmese pro-democracy movement. Some Burmese campaigners attacked the piece with John Pilger
describing it as a 'morally and journalistically disgraceful condemnation'. However, similar questions about Suu Kyi's efficacy were published in The New Yorker
.
, a Pakistan metallurgist, stole nuclear secrets to build a bomb, before selling them around the world. However, Levy also revealed how the US had inadvertently armed countries President George W. Bush
described as the axis of evil
, by enabling Pakistan to arm itself while turning a blind eye as it sold on its know-how, Washington desiring to keep Islamabad as a key ally in Bush's War on Terror
. Serialized by The Sunday Times
, the book was a Washington Post ‘pick of the year’, and a finalist for the Duke of Westminster's Medal for Military Literature
, presented by the Royal United Services Institute
. Since then Levy together with Scott-Clark has produced for C4 Dispatches a documentary on the Islamic Republic's internal war on terror and its cost. They have also worked in the Swat Valley, for The Guardian, revealing the work of a specialist school, sponsored by the Pakistan military, as it attempts to rehabilitate would-be suicide bombers.
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
.
Specialising in long-form investigative work, his pieces most often filed from Asia are published in The Guardian's Weekend magazine. Levy's work has also appeared in The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
, The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times is a British Sunday newspaper.The Sunday Times may also refer to:*The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times...
magazine, and The Mail on Sunday
The Mail on Sunday
The Mail on Sunday is a British conservative newspaper, currently published in a tabloid format. First published in 1982 by Lord Rothermere, it became Britain's biggest-selling Sunday newspaper following the closing of The News of the World in July 2011...
, as well as being syndicated in the US, Australasia and across Europe.
Levy has also written three non-fiction books. His fourth, entitled The Meadow, will be published in 2011 by Harper Collins, in Britain. Levy has also co-produced documentaries for the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
and Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
, as well as broadcasting on BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
and the BBC World Service
BBC World Service
The BBC World Service is the world's largest international broadcaster, broadcasting in 27 languages to many parts of the world via analogue and digital shortwave, internet streaming and podcasting, satellite, FM and MW relays...
. Much of his work has been a collaboration with the journalist and author Cathy Scott-Clark.
In 2009, Levy and Scott-Clark were jointly made British Journalist of the Year at the One World Media awards, having been British Foreign Journalist of the Year in 2004. They were runner-ups in the British Press Awards
British Press Awards
The British Press Awards is an annual ceremony that celebrates the best of British journalism. Established in the 1970s, honours are voted on by a panel of journalists and newspaper executives...
as Feature Writer of the Year in 2006 and 2009.
Biography
Levy trained on the Burton Daily Mail now known as the Burton MailBurton Mail
The Burton Mail is a British daily newspaper published each weekday and on Saturdays. It covers the East Staffordshire, South Derbyshire and North West Leicestershire areas. In the period December 2010-June 2011, it had an average daily circulation of 12,198...
, working also for the Bolton Evening News and as a chief reporter on the Yorkshire Post
Yorkshire Post
The Yorkshire Post is a daily broadsheet newspaper, published in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England by Yorkshire Post Newspapers, a company owned by Johnston Press...
before becoming a staff reporter on The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times is a British Sunday newspaper.The Sunday Times may also refer to:*The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times...
in 1994. There he became deputy editor of its investigative Insight Section, before being posted, in 1998, as a foreign correspondent in South Asia. He left to join The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
in 2001.
Burma
Filing stories from inside Burma and along its borders with China, India and Thailand since 1996, Levy's first book, published in 2001, was also centred in that country. Stone of Heaven, co-written with Scott-Clark, recounted historic attempts to reach the jadeite mines of Upper Burma, capped by their own successful journey to Hpakant, in Kachin State - the epicentre of the mines. The book described the plight of hundreds of thousands of bonded labourers, many of them paid in heroin, sharing syringes in dismal conditions, the gem pits becoming an epicentre for the country's HIV crisis. Serialised on BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
, and in The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
, the New York Times named it a 'book of the year'.
Having been black-listed from travelling to Burma, Levy and Scott-Clark were in 2001 invited back by the military government, in a trip sponsored by the UN, becoming the first journalists to be invited to attend a cabinet meeting after being held for seven days in Rangoon under house arrest. Writing and broadcasting regularly about the country in the years that followed, Levy also covered the uprisings of 2007 and 2008. However, he courted controversy shortly after by co-authoring a piece in The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
that questioned the efficacy of Aung San Suu Kyi
Aung San Suu Kyi
Aung San Suu Kyi, AC is a Burmese opposition politician and the General Secretary of the National League for Democracy. In the 1990 general election, her National League for Democracy party won 59% of the national votes and 81% of the seats in Parliament. She had, however, already been detained...
, the jailed leader of the Burmese pro-democracy movement. Some Burmese campaigners attacked the piece with John Pilger
John Pilger
John Richard Pilger is an Australian journalist and documentary maker, based in London. He has twice won Britain's Journalist of the Year Award, and his documentaries have received academy awards in Britain and the US....
describing it as a 'morally and journalistically disgraceful condemnation'. However, similar questions about Suu Kyi's efficacy were published in The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
.
Russia
Levy's second book investigated the plight of The Amber Room, said to be one of the world's most valuable missing art treasures that vanished after World War II. Levy published evidence said to be derived from formerly closed Soviet-era archives that showed the room had been accidentally destroyed by the Soviet Red Army. The book met with approval in the West where Peter Preston, former editor of The Guardian, described Levy and Scott-Clark as “two of our most formidable investigative journalists”. The Amber Room was a finalist in the Borders’ Original Voices US book awards, becoming a national best seller in America. However, in Russia, where the Amber Room has been rebuilt and is said to have been dismantled by the Nazis whose sympathisers concealed it in a secret hiding place, the book was denounced.Pakistan
Having worked in Pakistan from 1996 onwards, Levy's third book was set there: Deception: Pakistan, the United States, and the Global Nuclear Weapons Conspiracy. Published in 2007, it revealed how Abdul Qadeer KhanAbdul Qadeer Khan
Abdul Qadeer Khan , also known in Pakistan as Mohsin-e-Pakistan , D.Eng, Sc.D, HI, NI , FPAS; more widely known as Dr. A. Q...
, a Pakistan metallurgist, stole nuclear secrets to build a bomb, before selling them around the world. However, Levy also revealed how the US had inadvertently armed countries President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
described as the axis of evil
Axis of evil
"Axis of evil" is a term initially used by the former United States President George W. Bush in his State of the Union Address on January 29, 2002 and often repeated throughout his presidency, describing governments that he accused of helping terrorism and seeking weapons of mass destruction...
, by enabling Pakistan to arm itself while turning a blind eye as it sold on its know-how, Washington desiring to keep Islamabad as a key ally in Bush's War on Terror
War on Terror
The War on Terror is a term commonly applied to an international military campaign led by the United States and the United Kingdom with the support of other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation as well as non-NATO countries...
. Serialized by The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times is a British Sunday newspaper.The Sunday Times may also refer to:*The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times...
, the book was a Washington Post ‘pick of the year’, and a finalist for the Duke of Westminster's Medal for Military Literature
Duke of Westminster's Medal for Military Literature
The Duke of Westminster's Medal for Military Literature is awarded by the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies, , Whitehall, London....
, presented by the Royal United Services Institute
Royal United Services Institute
The Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies , officially still known by its old name, the Royal United Services Institution, is a British defence and security think tank. It was founded in 1831 by The Duke of Wellington.RUSI describes itself asIt won Prospect Magazine's...
. Since then Levy together with Scott-Clark has produced for C4 Dispatches a documentary on the Islamic Republic's internal war on terror and its cost. They have also worked in the Swat Valley, for The Guardian, revealing the work of a specialist school, sponsored by the Pakistan military, as it attempts to rehabilitate would-be suicide bombers.