About Lynne O'Donnell

Lynne O’Donnell is a journalist, author, broadcaster, and, now, a student. She spent many years as a foreign correspondent, including more than a decade based in China. After the 9-11 attacks on the United States, she began covering terrorism, conflict and war across Central Asia, the Middle East and Europe, including the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan that drove the Taliban from power, and the 2003 war in Iraq that ended Saddam Hussein’s rule. Her book, "High Tea in Mosul: the True Story of Two Englishwomen in War-torn Iraq," tells the story of the brutality of Saddam’s rule of that country through the eyes of two women from the North of England who married Iraqi men and returned with them to their home town. Between 2009 and 2016, Lynne ran busy frontline multi-media bureaus in Kabul for, first, the French news agency AFP, and The Associated Press, the world’s biggest news organisation. She is now taking a break from covering war to study it — a Master’s degree in war studies at King’s College London, class of 2019. Alongside her studies, Lynne is working on a documentary project, called Women At War, a book, and a series of podcasts on frontline journalists, what motivates them and how their work affects them.