Louise Callaghan is a multi-award winning senior foreign correspondent for The Sunday Times, best known for her work in war zones in Ukraine, Syria and Iraq during her eight years as Middle East correspondent.
She was named Foreign Reporter of the Year by the Press Association in this April’s Press Awards, and was the inaugural winner of the Marie Colvin Award for British Journalism in 2018, as well as twice winning further British Press Awards for her foreign reporting. In 2018, she was named as one of Forbes‘ 30 under 30 in media.
Her first book, Father of Lions, was published by Head of Zeus in the UK, Macmillan in the US, and seven further territories, in 2019.
Father of Lions: How One Man Defied Isis and Saved Mosul Zoo
Iraq, 2014.
As ISIS laid terrible siege to Mosul, a zoo on the eastern edge of the Tigris was kept open against all odds. Under the stern hand of the zookeeper Abu Laith, whose name – loosely translated – means Father of Lions, its animals faced not only years of occupation, but starvation and bombardment by the liberating forces. Father of Lions is not just the story of Mosul Zoo: it is a story of resilience and human decency in the midst of barbarism.