The BBC’s Fergal Keane: ‘The breakdowns get harder to recover from each time’

The former BBC war reporter, now special correspondent, on the terror of PTSD, his tips for living with it day to day, and the people and poets he admiresDuring a career spanning more than 30 years, BBC special correspondent Fergal Keane has covered brutal conflicts in South Africa, Rwanda and Bosnia. It’s taken a lasting toll on his mental health, and in 2020 he stepped back from frontline reporting, revealing that he’s suffering from acute PTSD. In his memoir The Madness, newly published in paperback, he goes into greater detail, powerfully describing multiple breakdowns, alcoholism, and the inherited trauma that shaped his Irish childhood, as well as the resilience he’s found in himself. He will be talking at the Edinburgh International book festival on 17 August.What part of The Madness was hardest to write?Most difficult was what it was like to be in a psychiatric hospital. People talk about going mad and it conjures up all kinds of stereotypical images, but it’s terrifying, it’s this implosion. I’ve never been so afraid in my life. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2023-08-06 08:30:06 UTC ]

Other news stories related to: "The BBC’s Fergal Keane: ‘The breakdowns get harder to recover from each time’"

Headline preempts debut about child abduction

Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Mon, 18/07/2011 - 12:15 Headline has pre-empted a debut novel about a man's whose nine month old daughter is abducted by carjackers in South Africa. Publisher at large Martin Fletcher bought world rights to Held Up by Christopher Radmann from Juliet... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Elliott & Thompson to link with Faber and Frances Lincoln

Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Wed, 06/07/2011 - 15:29 Independent publisher Elliott & Thompson has appointed Frances Lincoln to be its sales representative in the UK and Ireland, with MDL continuing to handle all distribution. In another new appointment, Faber is to... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Biteback acquires Peter Hain memoir

Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Mon, 04/04/2011 - 15:00 Biteback has bought the memoir of former Northern Ireland secretary of state and anti-apartheid campaigner Peter Hain. Managing director Iain Dale bought UK and Commonwealth rights (excluding Guam and South Africa) from... Continue reading at The Bookseller