Patrick Cockburn
Encyclopedia
Patrick Cockburn is an Irish
journalist
who has been a Middle East
correspondent
since 1979 for the Financial Times
and, presently, The Independent
.
Among the most experienced commentators on Iraq
, he has written four books on the country's recent history. He won the Martha Gellhorn Prize in 2005, the James Cameron Prize
in 2006 and the Orwell Prize
for Journalism in 2009.
and grew up in County Cork
, Ireland
. His parents were the well-known socialist
author
and journalist Claud Cockburn
and his third wife Patricia Byron, née
Arbuthnot (who also wrote an autobiography, Figure of Eight). He was educated at Glenalmond College
, Perthshire
, and Trinity College, Oxford
.
Cockburn married Janet ("Jan") Montefiore, daughter of Rt. Rev. Hugh Montefiore
, and has two children, Henry Claud and Alexander. He has two brothers, Alexander Cockburn
and Andrew Cockburn
who are also journalists, and a half-sister, mystery writer Sarah Caudwell
. Journalists Laura Flanders
and Stephanie Flanders
are his half-nieces, daughters of his half-brother in law Michael Flanders
, and actress Olivia Wilde
, is his niece, daughter of his sister in law Leslie Cockburn
.
prior to the war in Iraq. The same book was later re-published in Britain with the title Saddam Hussein: An American Obsession. Two more were written by Patrick alone after the U.S. invasion, following his award-winning reporting from Iraq. The first, The Occupation: War and Resistance in Iraq (2006) mixes first hand accounts with reporting, Cockburn's book is critical of the invasion as well as the Salafi fundamentalists who comprise much of the resistance. The Occupation was nominated for the 2006 National Book Critics Circle
award for nonfiction. The second, Muqtada: Muqtada al-Sadr, the Shia Revival, and the Struggle for Iraq was published in 2008. Muqtada is a journalistic account of the recent history of the religiously and politically prominent Sadr
family, the rise of Muqtada, and the development of the Sadrist movement
since the 2003 U.S. invasion.
Cockburn's memoir
is The Broken Boy (2005), a memoir of his childhood in 1950s Ireland, as well as an investigation of the way polio was handled – Cockburn himself caught and survived polio at the time. He has also published a collection of essays on the Soviet Union
, titled Getting Russia Wrong: The End of Kremlinology (1989). He also writes for CounterPunch
and the London Review of Books
.
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
who has been a Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
correspondent
Correspondent
A correspondent or on-the-scene reporter is a journalist or commentator, or more general speaking, an agent who contributes reports to a newspaper, or radio or television news, or another type of company, from a remote, often distant, location. A foreign correspondent is stationed in a foreign...
since 1979 for the Financial Times
Financial Times
The Financial Times is an international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and printed in 24 cities around the world. Its primary rival is the Wall Street Journal, published in New York City....
and, presently, The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
.
Among the most experienced commentators on Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
, he has written four books on the country's recent history. He won the Martha Gellhorn Prize in 2005, the James Cameron Prize
James Cameron (journalist)
Mark James Walter Cameron was a prominent British journalist, in whose memory the annual James Cameron Memorial Lecture is given.-Early life:...
in 2006 and the Orwell Prize
Orwell Prize
The Orwell Prize used to be regarded as the pre-eminent British prize for political writing.Three prizes are awarded each year: one for a book, one for journalism and another for blogging...
for Journalism in 2009.
Biography
Cockburn was born in IrelandIreland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
and grew up in County Cork
County Cork
County Cork is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and is also part of the province of Munster. It is named after the city of Cork . Cork County Council is the local authority for the county...
, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
. His parents were the well-known socialist
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
and journalist Claud Cockburn
Claud Cockburn
Francis Claud Cockburn was a British journalist. He was well known proponent of communism. His saying, "believe nothing until it has been officially denied" is widely quoted in journalistic studies.He was the second cousin of novelist Evelyn Waugh....
and his third wife Patricia Byron, née
NEE
NEE is a political protest group whose goal was to provide an alternative for voters who are unhappy with all political parties at hand in Belgium, where voting is compulsory.The NEE party was founded in 2005 in Antwerp...
Arbuthnot (who also wrote an autobiography, Figure of Eight). He was educated at Glenalmond College
Glenalmond College
Glenalmond College is a co-educational independent boarding school in Perth and Kinross, Scotland, for children aged between 12 and 18 years. It is situated on the River Almond near the village of Methven, about west of the city of Perth. The school's motto is Floreat Glenalmond...
, Perthshire
Perthshire
Perthshire, officially the County of Perth , is a registration county in central Scotland. It extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, Rannoch Moor and Ben Lui in the west, and Aberfoyle in the south...
, and Trinity College, Oxford
Trinity College, Oxford
The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity in the University of Oxford, of the foundation of Sir Thomas Pope , or Trinity College for short, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It stands on Broad Street, next door to Balliol College and Blackwells bookshop,...
.
Cockburn married Janet ("Jan") Montefiore, daughter of Rt. Rev. Hugh Montefiore
Hugh Montefiore
Hugh William Montefiore was Bishop of Birmingham from 1977 to 1987.He was a member of a famous Jewish family. His father was Charles Sebag-Montefiore . He was educated at Rugby School , St John's College, Oxford, and Westcott House, Cambridge...
, and has two children, Henry Claud and Alexander. He has two brothers, Alexander Cockburn
Alexander Cockburn
Alexander Claud Cockburn is an American political journalist. Cockburn was brought up in Ireland but has lived and worked in the United States since 1972. Together with Jeffrey St. Clair, he edits the political newsletter CounterPunch...
and Andrew Cockburn
Andrew Cockburn
Andrew Cockburn is a journalist who has lived in the United States for many years.-Early life and family:Born in London in 1947, Cockburn grew up in County Cork, Ireland. His father was socialist author and journalist Claud Cockburn...
who are also journalists, and a half-sister, mystery writer Sarah Caudwell
Sarah Caudwell
Sarah Caudwell was the pseudonym of Sarah Cockburn , a British barrister and writer of detective stories.She is best known for a series of four murder stories written between 1980 and 1999, centred around the lives of a group of young barristers practicing in Lincoln’s Inn and narrated by a Hilary...
. Journalists Laura Flanders
Laura Flanders
Laura Flanders is a British-American journalist who presents the current events show GRITtv, broadcast weekdays on Link and Free Speech TV....
and Stephanie Flanders
Stephanie Flanders
Stephanie Hope Flanders, born 5 August 1968, is a British broadcast journalist, and is currently the BBC economics editor.She is the daughter of British actor and comic singer Michael Flanders and Claudia Cockburn.-Early life:...
are his half-nieces, daughters of his half-brother in law Michael Flanders
Michael Flanders
Michael Henry Flanders OBE, was an English actor, broadcaster, and writer and performer of comic songs. He is best known to the general public for his partnership with Donald Swann performing as the duo Flanders and Swann....
, and actress Olivia Wilde
Olivia Wilde
Olivia Wilde is an American actress and fashion model. She began acting in the early 2000s, and has since appeared in a number of film and television parts, including roles in the serial-drama The O.C. and The Black Donnellys. She portrayed Dr...
, is his niece, daughter of his sister in law Leslie Cockburn
Leslie Cockburn
Leslie Corkill Redlich Cockburn is an American writer and filmmaker who has covered a wide variety of international stories in almost every part of the globe.-Early life and career:...
.
Writing
Cockburn has written three books on Iraq. One, Out of the Ashes: The Resurrection of Saddam Hussein, was written with his brother Andrew CockburnAndrew Cockburn
Andrew Cockburn is a journalist who has lived in the United States for many years.-Early life and family:Born in London in 1947, Cockburn grew up in County Cork, Ireland. His father was socialist author and journalist Claud Cockburn...
prior to the war in Iraq. The same book was later re-published in Britain with the title Saddam Hussein: An American Obsession. Two more were written by Patrick alone after the U.S. invasion, following his award-winning reporting from Iraq. The first, The Occupation: War and Resistance in Iraq (2006) mixes first hand accounts with reporting, Cockburn's book is critical of the invasion as well as the Salafi fundamentalists who comprise much of the resistance. The Occupation was nominated for the 2006 National Book Critics Circle
National Book Critics Circle
The National Book Critics Circle is an American tax-exempt organization for active book reviewers. Its flagship is the National Book Critics Circle Award....
award for nonfiction. The second, Muqtada: Muqtada al-Sadr, the Shia Revival, and the Struggle for Iraq was published in 2008. Muqtada is a journalistic account of the recent history of the religiously and politically prominent Sadr
Sadr
Sadr may refer to:*Gamma Cygni, a star.*Sadr City, a neighbourhood in northeastern Baghdad.*Sadr, a family name originating in Lebanon.*Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic , the government-in-exile of the Polisario Front....
family, the rise of Muqtada, and the development of the Sadrist movement
Sadrist Movement
The Sadrist Movement is an Iraqi Islamist national movement led by Muqtada al-Sadr. The movement draws wide support from across Iraqi society and especially from the Shi'a poor in the country. The most important person in setting the goals and the philosophy of the movement was Grand Ayatollah...
since the 2003 U.S. invasion.
Cockburn's memoir
Memoir
A memoir , is a literary genre, forming a subclass of autobiography – although the terms 'memoir' and 'autobiography' are almost interchangeable. Memoir is autobiographical writing, but not all autobiographical writing follows the criteria for memoir set out below...
is The Broken Boy (2005), a memoir of his childhood in 1950s Ireland, as well as an investigation of the way polio was handled – Cockburn himself caught and survived polio at the time. He has also published a collection of essays on the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, titled Getting Russia Wrong: The End of Kremlinology (1989). He also writes for CounterPunch
Counterpunch
Counterpunch can refer to:* Counterpunch , a punch in boxing* CounterPunch, a bi-weekly political newsletter* Counterpunch , a type of punch used in traditional typography* Punch-Counterpunch, a Transformers character...
and the London Review of Books
London Review of Books
The London Review of Books is a fortnightly British magazine of literary and intellectual essays.-History:The LRB was founded in 1979, during the year-long lock-out at The Times, by publisher A...
.
Awards
- 2011 Costa Book Awards2011 Costa Book AwardsThe shortlists were announced on 16 November 2011. The winners in each category will be announced in January 2012.-Children's Book:Winner:*TBDShortlist:*Martyn Bedford, Flip*Frank Cottrell Boyce, The Unforgotten Coat...
(Biography), shortlist, Henry’s Demons: Living with Schizophrenia, A Father and Son’s Story (with Henry Cockburn) - 2010 International Media AwardsInternational Council for Press and BroadcastingThe council is a subsidiary body of the Next Century Foundation, an organisation which deals primarily with conflict resolution issues and holds an annual International Media Awards in London...
Peace Through Media Award. - 2009 Orwell PrizeOrwell PrizeThe Orwell Prize used to be regarded as the pre-eminent British prize for political writing.Three prizes are awarded each year: one for a book, one for journalism and another for blogging...
, coverage of Iraq and his son's schizophreniaSchizophreniaSchizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by a disintegration of thought processes and of emotional responsiveness. It most commonly manifests itself as auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre delusions, or disorganized speech and thinking, and it is accompanied by significant social...
. - 2006 James Cameron Prize
- 2005 Martha Gellhorn Prize
Books
- (1989), Getting Russia Wrong: The End of Kremlinology, Verso BooksVerso BooksVerso Books is a publishing house based in London and New York City, founded in 1970 by the staff of New Left Review. The company claims "global sales approaching $3 million per year and over 350 titles in print," possibly making it "the largest radical publisher in the English-language...
, ISBN 978-0860919773 - (with Andrew CockburnAndrew CockburnAndrew Cockburn is a journalist who has lived in the United States for many years.-Early life and family:Born in London in 1947, Cockburn grew up in County Cork, Ireland. His father was socialist author and journalist Claud Cockburn...
, 1999), Out of the Ashes: The Resurrection of Saddam Hussein, HarperCollinsHarperCollinsHarperCollins is a publishing company owned by News Corporation. It is the combination of the publishers William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd, a British company, and Harper & Row, an American company, itself the result of an earlier merger of Harper & Brothers and Row, Peterson & Company. The worldwide...
. (British title: Saddam Hussein: An American Obsession, 2002.) - (2005), The Broken Boy, Jonathan CapeJonathan CapeJonathan Cape was a London-based publisher founded in 1919 as "Page & Co" by Herbert Jonathan Cape , formerly a manager at Duckworth who had worked his way up from a position of bookshop errand boy. Cape brought with him the rights to cheap editions of the popular author Elinor Glyn and sales of...
, ISBN 978-0224071086 - (2006), The Occupation: War and Resistance in Iraq, Verso BooksVerso BooksVerso Books is a publishing house based in London and New York City, founded in 1970 by the staff of New Left Review. The company claims "global sales approaching $3 million per year and over 350 titles in print," possibly making it "the largest radical publisher in the English-language...
, ISBN 978-1844671649 - (2008), Muqtada: Muqtada al-Sadr, the Shia Revival, and the Struggle for Iraq, ScribnerCharles Scribner's SonsCharles Scribner's Sons, or simply Scribner, is an American publisher based in New York City, known for publishing a number of American authors including Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Kurt Vonnegut, Stephen King, Robert A. Heinlein, Thomas Wolfe, George Santayana, John Clellon...
, ISBN 978-1416551478. (British title: Muqtada Al-Sadr and the Fall of Iraq, Faber and FaberFaber and FaberFaber and Faber Limited, often abbreviated to Faber, is an independent publishing house in the UK, notable in particular for publishing a great deal of poetry and for its former editor T. S. Eliot. Faber has a rich tradition of publishing a wide range of fiction, non fiction, drama, film and music...
, ISBN 978-0571239740; Muqtada Al-Sadr and the Shia Insurgency in Iraq, Faber and FaberFaber and FaberFaber and Faber Limited, often abbreviated to Faber, is an independent publishing house in the UK, notable in particular for publishing a great deal of poetry and for its former editor T. S. Eliot. Faber has a rich tradition of publishing a wide range of fiction, non fiction, drama, film and music...
, ISBN 978-0571239764) - (2011), Henry’s Demons: Living with Schizophrenia, A Father and Son’s Story
External links
- "Iraq's Looming Peril: A Plague of Snakes" (June 16, 2009)
- "US Troops Leaving the Cities: A Whole New Ballgame in Iraq " (June 15, 2009)
- "US Frees Top Shia Fighter in Deal to Free British Hostages Prisoner Swap in Iraq " (June 12–14, 2009)
- "Exodus of Iraq's Ancient Minorities" (March 2007)
- Kurdistan: Birth of a Nation? (22 June 2006)
- The Occupation (November/December 2005)
- Iraqis are Naming Their New Babies "Saddam" (31 October 2003)
- US Troops Bulldoze Crops (15 October 2003)
- The Iraq Wreck (16 September 2003)
- Patrick Cockburn on Missing Billions in Iraq and Soaring Cancer Rates in Fallujah – video interview by Democracy Now!Democracy Now!Democracy Now! and its staff have received several journalism awards, including the Gracie Award from American Women in Radio & Television; the George Polk Award for its 1998 radio documentary Drilling and Killing: Chevron and Nigeria's Oil Dictatorship, on the Chevron Corporation and the deaths of...