I Brought the War with Me

Innovative... I Brought the War with Me isn’t just an excellent anthology. It also makes one reflect, not always comfortingly, on news reporters, poets and their relation to the terrible deeds of the world – William Wootten * Times Literary Supplement *I can think of no better use of poetry in any anthology I have ever read: a profound, revelatory, distressing and timely account of humanity at war – CAROL ANN DUFFYAs long as there has been war, there have been poets chronicling it; Lindsey Hilsum has woven poems and war stories together to bring us darkness and light in the most moving magical way – CHRISTINA LAMBA fantastic, beguiling and movingly profound book. Memorable and inspiring – WILLIAM BOYD‘A really good book… [and] very interesting memoir’ – ALASTAIR CAMPBELLA book of great power and poignancy… Lindsey Hilsum has no end of courage, sustained by an intellectual and emotional hinterland that makes her the finest foreign affairs journalist of her generation – FERGAL KEANELindsey Hilsum writes beautifully, with so much integrity, sensitivity, true experience and courage, her prose combines with these poems to form a profoundly affecting work. The depth, the sensitivity, the reaching for truth, across cultures, through so many awful wars. It’s all here in this book – LARA PAWSONFrom Ukraine to Iraq, to Rwanda, Syria, West Bank, and beyond Lindsey Hilsum takes us on a global journey punctuated by wars, death and destruction, but also by verses of poetry– sounds of muses that refused to be silent when the cannons were heard – SERHII PLOKHYLindsay Hilsum’s unflinching accounts of human conflicts take us to the frontline and witness the painful devastation in Ukraine, Iraq, Rwanda, Syria and many war-torn places beyond recognition. Sharp-eyed, tender yet unsentimental, Hilsum’s prose, juxtaposed with poetry, has created a terrifying dance of death and a soaring dance of hope. It’s an unforgettable reading experience – KIT FANIncredibly moving, resonant and thought-provoking. Everyone who has been affected in some way by war – and that’s everyone – should read Lindsey Hilsum’s I Brought the War with Me. The excellent twinning of reportage and poetry creates a space in which revealing connections are sparked. It offers solace, invites empathy, re-sensitises, and helps us to think deeply about war and its terrible effects. I know I’ll return to it frequently – PRISCILLA MORRIS

Lindsey Hilsum is the International Editor for Channel 4 News. Her book, In Extremis- the Life of War Correspondent Marie Colvin won the 2019 James Tait Black Prize for biography. Recently she has reported on the war in Ukraine, Sudan and Israel/Gaza. She has covered the major conflicts and refugee movements of the past three decades, including Afghanistan, Syria, Mali, Iraq and Kosovo. From 2006-8 she was based in China, and in 1994 was the only English-speaking foreign correspondent in Rwanda as the genocide started. She has won many awards, including the Royal Television Society Journalist of the Year and the Royal Geographical Society Patron’s Medal. She contributes regularly to newspapers and literary magazines. Her first book was Sandstorm- Libya in the Time of Revolution.