Helena Cobban

Contributing Editor, Boston Review,

'Friend in Washington' with the Friends Committee on National (U.S.) Legislation

Ms. Cobban is a veteran writer, researcher, and program organizer on global and affairs.  She is a Contributing Editor of Boston Review, where her recent articles have included in-depth essays on current Middle East issues and on post-genocide justice issues in Rwanda. She has an affiliation as 'Friend in Washington' with the Washington, DC-based Friends Committee on National Legislation and is the author and proprietor of  "Just World News", a lively blog on international issues that she has maintained since 2003.

Ms. Cobban has published seven books.  The most recent, Re-engage! America and the World After Bush was published by Paradigm Publishers in May 2008. Congressman Lee Hamilton, Co-chair of the Iraq Study Group, described it as, "An impassioned, thought-provoking, and accessible brief from a highly esteemed journalist on how all of us - as individuals - can act to help better our country and world."  Her previous books include:
Born in England in 1952, Ms. Cobban received her B.A. and M.A. from Oxford University.  From 1974 through 1981, she worked as a journalist in the Middle East, including five years as a Beirut-based correspondent for The Christian Science Monitor, and The Sunday Times of London.  Since 1982, she has lived primarily in the United States, though her work has taken her back to the Middle East (many times), and to many parts of Europe, Africa, and Asia. 

Ms. Cobban contributed a regular column on global affairs to The Christian Science Monitor from 1990 until the paper stopped having regular columnists in 2007 and has published widely in other print media on three continents. She has considerable experience in broadcast media: she worked briefly as a reporter for the BBC in the 1970s and has been a guest on many leading radio and broadcast discussion shows in the U.S.  She currently divides her time between Washington DC and Charlottesville, Virginia.

Tel: +1 (434) 409-7712 (mob.)

Landline in DC: +1 (202) 506-3671
e-mail:  hcobban@gmail.com

(Updated June 2008)

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