Peter Godwin

Peter Godwin: Biography in Details

Who is Peter Godwin?

Peter Godwin is a journalist, author, and documentary filmmaker. He is renowned as the former president of the PEN American Center.

Also, he is popular as the author of the book, The Fear: Robert Mugabe and the Martyrdom of Zimbabwe. 

Peter Godwin- Age, Parents, Ethnicity, Siblings, Education

Peter Godwin was born on 4th December 1957 in Harare, Zimbabwe. He is of British-Polish ethnicity.

To date, he has not revealed the name of his parents. His Polish father is an engineer by profession. Whereas his British mother is a former doctor. His father’s family got killed in the Holocaust.

Peter Godwin has an elder sister, Jain. She and her fiance got killed in their car during an army ambush. Moving towards his academics, he joined Cambridge University to study Law. Later, he also attended Oxford University to study International Relations.

Peter Godwin- Professional Career

Early Career & Journalism

After graduating from Cambridge University, Peter Godwin started his career as a human rights lawyer. However, he shifted his career toward journalism.

In 1893, he reported on President Mugabe’s North Korean-trained Fifth Brigade killing more than 20,000 civilians in the southern province of Matabeleland.

He joined the British Newspaper, The Sunday Times as a foreign correspondent. At the time, he covered the wars that took place in Angola, Mozambique, Namibia, and Zimbabwe.

Following that, Peter Godwin joined BBC as the chief correspondent for the foreign affairs program. During the period, he documented films in Cuba, the Balkans, and Czechoslovakia. 

Later, he worked as a contributor to newspapers like The New York Times and Vanity Fair. Meanwhile, he was also associated with other publications as a contributor. In 2008, he contributed various articles regarding the small islands of Likoma, Chizumulu, and several Malawi and Mozambican territorial waters.

In 2008, he suggested The New York Times’ withdrawal of participating countries from the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Author & Documentary Filmmaker

Apart from being a journalist, Peter Godwin is also an incredible author and filmmaker. As a writer, he specialized in the non-fiction genre. In 1993, he published his first book, ‘Rhodesians Never Die’: The Impact of War and Political Change on White. The book is about the White Rhodesians who were ill-prepared for the revolutionary change.

The same year, he made the movie, The Industry of Death which is based on the investigation of Thailand’s sex industry. Three years later, he published the book, Mukiwa: A White Boy in Africa. The autobiography follows his own journey from the war in Rhodesia to his journey as a journalist in the new state of Zimbabwe.

Following that, he wrote the books like The Three of Us: A New Life in New York, Wild at Heart: Man and Beast in Southern Africa, and When a Crocodile Eats the Sun: A Memoir of Africa.

In 2011, Peter Godwin published his latest book, The Fear: Robert Mugabe and the Martyrdom of Zimbabwe. The book is about the systematic campaign of murder and torture that citizens faced after Zimbabwe’s autocracy were defeated at the polls.

The year, the book was selected as the best book by The New Yorker, The Economist, and Publishers Weekly.

Others

In 2007, Peter Godwin called the international community to make it clear that he and new South Africa is morally obligated to help people who are and disenfranchised to South African president Thabo Mbeki

In 2012, he was elected as the president of the PEN American Center. He served the position till 2015.

He also worked in the New School, Princeton University, and Columbia University as a teacher of writing.

Net Worth and Salary

As of 2023, he has an estimated net worth of $1.5 million. His earnings as an author are in the range of $24k – $106k. Besides that, he also makes through the royalties of his books.

Apart from that, as a journalist, his earnings are in the range of $24k – $73k.

Body Measurements- Height & Weight

Peter Godwin has blue eyes with light hair. He has a decent height and an average weight. However, details on his body stats are not available.

Controversy & Rumors

To date, Peter Godwin has not been involved in any sort of controversy or scandals that created a buzz in the media. Besides that, he has managed to maintain distance from any type of rumors.

Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook

Peter Godwin has over 7.2k followers on Twitter and 4.6k on Facebook. He is not active on Instagram.

On Twitter, he is following the personalities like Carole Cadwalladr, David McKenize, and Peter Ndoro.

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Peter Godwin's Birthday Dates