Donovan Webster
Encyclopedia
Donovan Webster is a journalist
and author
. A former senior editor for Outside magazine
, he now writes for National Geographic, Smithsonian, Best Life
, Vanity Fair
, Men's Health, Garden & Gun, and The New York Times Magazine, among other publications. He lives with his family outside Charlottesville, Virginia
, United States
.
In 1996, he co-founded Physicians Against Landmines/Center for International Rehabilitation (CIR). An international, non-governmental humanitarian organization, CIR sponsors wheelchair and prosthetics programs, plus prosthetics-fabrication training and disability advocacy in post-conflict nations worldwide. In 1997, as part of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, CIR was a co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. In 2006, working with the United Nations Special Rapporteur for Disabilities, CIR was central to the UN’s Convention on the Rights for Persons with Disabilities, the most-rapidly ratified UN Convention to ever gain approval by the UN General Assembly. He currently serves as CIR's vice-chairman.
In 2001, he became an honorary chief of the Kachin hill tribes of northern Burma.
He wrote "Traveling the Long Road to Freedom, One Step at a Time," which was published in Smithsonian magazine; this article was recently used in the English language and literature pre-release material (AQA).
In 2006 and 2007, he was co-leader of the expedition Running the Sahara: an on-foot crossing of North Africa from Senegal to the Suez in Egypt. The expedition was filmed and edited into a documentary film, Running the Sahara, narrated by Matt Damon
and released in 2007 with the logistics support of Sam Rutherford at www.prepare2go.com. The Running the Sahara project began in Senegal
, went through Mauritania
, Mali
, Niger
and Libya
, before culminating in Egypt
. Runners included Ray Zahab
and Kevin Lin.
In July and August of 2010, he and photographer Ron Haviv traveled to Madre de Dios state in southeast Peru for Smithsonian magazine. There they documented the environmental destruction of the upper-Amazon basin rainforest by illegal gold mining, a practice that has increased exponentially due to a recent leap in gold prices. A documentary-film team followed their investigation. The result is "Amazon Gold," an hour-long theatrical release, which premiered at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in December, 2010.
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Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
and author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
. A former senior editor for Outside magazine
Outside (magazine)
Outside is an American magazine focused on the outdoors. The first issue debuted in September 1977 with its mission statement declaring that the publication was "dedicated to covering the people, sports and activities, politics, art, literature, and hardware of the outdoors..."Its founders were...
, he now writes for National Geographic, Smithsonian, Best Life
Best Life
Best Life, published by Rodale Inc. in Emmaus, Pennsylvania, United States, was the first luxury service magazine for men, and the fastest-growing men's magazine in America, with a circulation of more than 500,000.-History:...
, Vanity Fair
Vanity Fair (magazine)
Vanity Fair is a magazine of pop culture, fashion, and current affairs published by Condé Nast. The present Vanity Fair has been published since 1983 and there have been editions for four European countries as well as the U.S. edition. This revived the title which had ceased publication in 1935...
, Men's Health, Garden & Gun, and The New York Times Magazine, among other publications. He lives with his family outside Charlottesville, Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
In 1996, he co-founded Physicians Against Landmines/Center for International Rehabilitation (CIR). An international, non-governmental humanitarian organization, CIR sponsors wheelchair and prosthetics programs, plus prosthetics-fabrication training and disability advocacy in post-conflict nations worldwide. In 1997, as part of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, CIR was a co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. In 2006, working with the United Nations Special Rapporteur for Disabilities, CIR was central to the UN’s Convention on the Rights for Persons with Disabilities, the most-rapidly ratified UN Convention to ever gain approval by the UN General Assembly. He currently serves as CIR's vice-chairman.
In 2001, he became an honorary chief of the Kachin hill tribes of northern Burma.
He wrote "Traveling the Long Road to Freedom, One Step at a Time," which was published in Smithsonian magazine; this article was recently used in the English language and literature pre-release material (AQA).
In 2006 and 2007, he was co-leader of the expedition Running the Sahara: an on-foot crossing of North Africa from Senegal to the Suez in Egypt. The expedition was filmed and edited into a documentary film, Running the Sahara, narrated by Matt Damon
Matt Damon
Matthew Paige "Matt" Damon is an American actor, screenwriter, and philanthropist whose career was launched following the success of the film Good Will Hunting , from a screenplay he co-wrote with friend Ben Affleck...
and released in 2007 with the logistics support of Sam Rutherford at www.prepare2go.com. The Running the Sahara project began in Senegal
Senegal
Senegal , officially the Republic of Senegal , is a country in western Africa. It owes its name to the Sénégal River that borders it to the east and north...
, went through Mauritania
Mauritania
Mauritania is a country in the Maghreb and West Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean in the west, by Western Sahara in the north, by Algeria in the northeast, by Mali in the east and southeast, and by Senegal in the southwest...
, Mali
Mali
Mali , officially the Republic of Mali , is a landlocked country in Western Africa. Mali borders Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west. Its size is just over 1,240,000 km² with...
, Niger
Niger
Niger , officially named the Republic of Niger, is a landlocked country in Western Africa, named after the Niger River. It borders Nigeria and Benin to the south, Burkina Faso and Mali to the west, Algeria and Libya to the north and Chad to the east...
and Libya
Libya
Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....
, before culminating in Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
. Runners included Ray Zahab
Ray Zahab
On November 1, 2006 former “pack a day smoker” Ray Zahab and two other runners set out on an epic expedition to cross the Sahara Desert by foot. One hundred and eleven days and 7500 km after leaving the coast of Senegal they completed their journey stepping into the Red Sea. The epic expedition had...
and Kevin Lin.
In July and August of 2010, he and photographer Ron Haviv traveled to Madre de Dios state in southeast Peru for Smithsonian magazine. There they documented the environmental destruction of the upper-Amazon basin rainforest by illegal gold mining, a practice that has increased exponentially due to a recent leap in gold prices. A documentary-film team followed their investigation. The result is "Amazon Gold," an hour-long theatrical release, which premiered at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in December, 2010.
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Bibliography
- Aftermath - The Remnants of War, Donovan Webster, Pantheon Books, New York, 1996 ISBN 0-679-43195-0
- The Burma Road: The Epic Story of the China-Burma-India Theater in World War II, Donovan Webster, Farrar Straus & Giroux, New York, NY, 2003 ISBN 0-06-074638-6
- Babylon by Bus, Ray Lemoine & Jeff Neumann, (with Donovan Webster), Penguin Press, New York, NY, 2006 ISBN 1-59420-091-2
- "Meeting the Family: One Man's Journey Through His Human Ancestry," Donovan Webster, National Geographic/Random House, 2010 ISBN 978-1-4262-0573-6
- "Ship of Death: The Voyage that Sparked the Yellow Fever Pandemic that Changed the Course of the World" (with Billy Smith) National Geographic/Random House, 2012 ISBN 1426207123
See also
- Aftermath: The Remnants of War (film)Aftermath: The Remnants of War (film)Aftermath: The Remnants of War is a 2001 Canadian documentary film directed by Daniel Sekulich about the painful legacy of war, based on the Lionel Gelber Prize winning book of the same name by Donovan Webster...