Peter Godwin

Peter Godwin (born 4 December 1957) is a Zimbabwean author, journalist, screenwriter, documentary filmmaker, and former human rights lawyer. Best known for his writings concerning the breakdown of his native Zimbabwe, he has reported from more than 60 countries and written several books.[1] He served as president of PEN American Center from 2012 to 2015[2] and resides in Manhattan, New York.

For the singer, see Peter Godwin (singer).

Peter Godwin
Born (1957-12-04) 4 December 1957
Salisbury, Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe)
Occupation(s)Journalist, Author/Memoirist
Notable credit(s)Foreign correspondent for The Sunday Times

Author of Mukiwa: White Boy in Africa

Author of When A Crocodile Eats The Sun

Author of The Fear: Robert Mugabe and the Martyrdom of Zimbabwe
Spouse
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(m. 2001; div. 2019)​
Children3
Signature

Early life and education

His mother came from an Anglican background in England and she moved to Southern Rhodesia in her twenties, where she was a medical doctor. His father, Kazimierz Goldfarb, a Polish Jewish engineer moved to the country from England after marrying Godwin's mother. Godwin's paternal grandparents and aunts were murdered at Treblinka extermination camp in the Holocaust.[3] For fear of anti-semitism, Godwin's father did not tell his children about his Jewish background for decades and instead went by the name George Godwin.[3][4]

Godwin grew up with his family in Rhodesia, where he attended St. George's College. He was conscripted into the British South Africa Police at the age of seventeen to fight in the Rhodesian Bush War. In 1978, his older sister Jain and her fiancé were killed when their car was ambushed by insurgents. Another sister, Georgina Godwin, has worked as a journalist, broadcast presenter and podcaster, in both Zimbabwe (until 2001) and the UK.

Peter Godwin studied law at Cambridge University and international relations at Oxford University.[5]

Career

Early career

Godwin was formerly a foreign correspondent for The Sunday Times (London), covering wars in Angola, Mozambique, Namibia, and Zimbabwe. Later he was the chief correspondent for the BBC's foreign affairs program, directing documentaries on Cuba, Czechoslovakia, and the Balkans.[1]

His early books include Rhodesians Never Die: The Impact of War and Political Change on White Rhodesia c1970 – 1980, co-written with Ian Hancock; The Three of Us, co-written with Joanna Coles; and Wild at Heart: Man and Beast in Southern Africa, with photographs by Chris Johns.

Journalism

Godwin is a contributor to The New York Times, and Vanity Fair, among other publications. In 2008 he wrote in the Times about the small islands of Likoma and Chizumulu on Lake Malawi, which are lacustrine exclaves of Malawi located in Mozambican territorial waters.[6] He has also reviewed books for the New York Times Book Review.[7]

In 2007, he called for the international community to "make it clear" to South African president Thabo Mbeki "that he, and the new South Africa, have a special moral obligation to help a nearby people who are oppressed and disenfranchised, having been assisted in its own struggle by just such pressure."[8] In 2008, Godwin suggested in The New York Times that the withdrawal of participating countries from the 2010 World Cup in South Africa might persuade Mbeki to use his country's economic power to draw Mugabe's rule in Zimbabwe "to an end in weeks rather than months."[9]

Other professional activities

In 2012, Godwin was named President of PEN American Center, the largest branch of the world's oldest literary and human rights organisation.[10] On 20 March 2012, Peter Godwin, as the incoming President of PEN American Center, read poetry by the imprisoned, Liu Xiaobo, with outgoing PEN President, Kwame Anthony Appiah.[11]

Godwin is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.[12] He has been a Guggenheim Fellow,[13] an Orwell Fellow,[14] and a MacDowell Fellow,[15] and has also taught writing at the New School, Princeton University, and Columbia University.[1]

Books and documentaries

Industry of Death

Godwin's film The Industry of Death (1993) was an investigation of Thailand's sex industry.

Mukiwa

In 1997, Godwin published Mukiwa: A White Boy in Africa. A memoir about growing up in Southern Rhodesia in the 1960s and 1970s during the Rhodesian Bush War, it was described by the Boston Globe as "devastatingly brilliant" and "[o]ne of the best memoirs to come out of Africa."[16] The book won The Orwell Prize in 1997.[14]

When a Crocodile Eats the Sun

In 2006, his second memoir, When a Crocodile Eats the Sun, was published.[17] It details the ebbing of his father's life, set to the backdrop of modern-day Zimbabwe, and his discovery of his father's Polish Jewish roots.

The Fear

Godwin's book, The Fear: Robert Mugabe and the Martyrdom of Zimbabwe (2011),[18] chronicles the systematic campaign of murder and torture unleashed by Zimbabwe's autocratic ruler following his defeat at the polls. Godwin was interviewed by Terry Gross on Fresh Air (NPR) in March 2011 about the situation in Zimbabwe since the 2008 general election.[19]

The Fear was selected as a best book of 2011 by The New Yorker, The Economist, and Publishers Weekly.

Exit Wounds

Godwin's fourth memoir, Exit Wounds will be published in the second half of 2024.[20]

Personal life

Godwin was married to Joanna Coles, living together in the Upper West Side of Manhattan with their sons, Thomas and Hugo, who as of November 2019 were aged 20 and 18 respectively, and with a dog, Phoebe.[21] His daughter, Holly, who was 25 years old as of November 2019, is based in the UK.[22] In July 2019, Coles filed for divorce from Godwin.

References
  1. "Peter Godwin". Oslo Freedom Forum. Archived from the original on 13 October 2013. Retrieved 10 May 2013.
  2. "You searched for Peter Godwin".
  3. The Dispossessed The New York Times. 11 June 2007
  4. The secret life of George ABC. 9 February 2021
  5. Academics: Peter Godwin Columbia School of International and Public affairs Archived 15 March 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  6. Godwin, Peter (13 November 2008). "The Sea Inside". The New York Times. Retrieved 10 May 2013.
  7. Weiss, Philip (27 June 2004). "A Cold Case". The New York Times. Retrieved 10 May 2013.
  8. Godwin, Peter (3 April 2007). "Showing Mugabe the Door". The New York Times. Retrieved 10 May 2013.
  9. Godwin, Peter (24 June 2008). "Soccer 1, Mugabe 0". The New York Times. Retrieved 10 May 2013.
  10. "Press Release". PEN American Center. 6 March 2012.
  11. "Kwame Anthony Appiah and Peter Godwin Read Poetry by Liu Xiaobo", PEN America, 20 March 2012
  12. "Member Roster". Council on Foreign Relations. 14 May 2012.
  13. "Fellows Roster". John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. 14 May 2012.
  14. "You searched for | the Orwell Foundation".
  15. "Fellows Roster". The MacDowell Colony. 14 May 2012. Archived from the original on 26 May 2009. Retrieved 18 May 2012.
  16. Zug, James (20 March 2011). "Reign of terror". Boston.com. Retrieved 10 May 2013.
  17. "Peter Godwin: Truth in black and white". The Independent. 9 March 2007. Archived from the original on 1 March 2010.
  18. "Where Dissidents Are the Prey, and Horror Is a Weapon". The New York Times. 23 May 2011.
  19. "A Journalist Bears Witness to Mugabe's Massacre". NPR. 30 March 2011.
  20. Pan Macmillan South Africa will publish Exit Wounds, the latest memoir by Peter Godwin. Pan Macmillan. 27 July 2023
  21. Profile of Joanna Coles, NYT, Nov. 2012
  22. When A Crocodile Eats the Sun, 2006
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