Michael Obert
Michael Obert is an award-winning German book author and journalist who has been compared with the likes of Bruce Chatwin, Jon Krakauer and Ryszard Kapuscinski.
He reports mainly from Africa and the Middle East and writes for National Geographic, GEO, Sueddeutsche Zeitung Magazin, DIE ZEIT and ZEIT Magazin, and many other prestigious periodicals in Germany, Switzerland and Austria, as well for Sunday Times Magazine, GQ France, The Journal (New York), Dagens Næringsliv (Oslo) and Himal Southasian (Katmandu).
Song from the Forest, Obert’s movie debut as a director, had its world premiere at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam 2013 where it won the IDFA Award for Best Feature-Length Documentary. The movie was considered for the Oscars 2016.
As an Africa expert, intercultural trainer and coach, Michael Obert advises politicians, professionals and organizations and gives the African continent a voice in the Western media. In 2017 he founded the Reporter Akademie Berlin.
Michael Obert was selected for the 2013 European Press Prize shortlist with ‘War Report from Somalia’ and for the 2015 European Press Prize shortlist with ‘Boko Haram’.
He won the 2018 Distinguished Reporting Award with ‘The human catcher‘.
George Monbiot
George Monbiot divides his time between writing for The Guardian and pursuing a number of quixotic projects: generally writing obscure books and campaigning for lost causes. His recent album Breaking the Spell of Loneliness, which he wrote and toured with the musician Ewan McLennan, was well-reviewed. He is the author of several best-selling books; his latest, Out of the Wreckage: a new politics for an age of crisis, comes out in October.
George Monbiot was selected for the 2015 European Press Prize shortlist with ‘Columns on the state of our lives and the natural world’