Justine Hardy
International Journalist, Author, and Professor of Eastern Philosophy & Culture Speaking Topics
Justine Hardy has been a journalist for 21 years; many of those spent covering South Asia. She is the author of five books ranging in subject from war to Hindi film: The Ochre Border was about the reopening of the Tibetan frontier-lands. Her second, Scoop-Wallah was the story of her time on an Indian newspaper in Delhi. It was short-listed for the Thomas Cook/Daily Telegraph Travel Book Award 2000 and serialized on BBC Radio 4. Goat: A Story of Kashmir and Notting Hill was an inside look at life in Kashmir and Notting Hill, two places drawn together by the latter’s obsession with the fine pashmina weave of the Kashmir Valley. This was also serialized on BBC Radio 4. Bollywood Boy was a bestseller in which the Hindi film industry was the vehicle for a closer look at the obsession with fame as it crept West to East, as well as a closer look at the darker side of an industry pumping out high-octane escapism for an audience of over a billion. The Wonder House is a novel set in Kashmir against the background of the conflict, and based on Hardy’s experience of frontline coverage, time spent in militant training camps, and amongst the extremists. It was short-listed for the Author’s Club best first novel in 2006. Her books have been translated into nine languages including Hindi and Serbian.
Hardy’s latest book In the Valley of Mist: Kashmir, One Family in a Changing World, is a personal, moving, and vibrant picture of one of the most beautiful and troubled places in the world -- described through the experiences of one family, whose fortunes have changed dramatically with those of the region. It is the 2010 Dayton Literary Peace Prize runner-up for non-fiction.
Hardy also writes for The Financial Times. She freelances for The Times, various Condé Nast magazines such as Vanity Fair and Traveler, as well as other publications.
As a documentary maker and presenter Hardy started at Channel 4 in 1996 on BAFTA-nominated series Urban Jungle. She has worked on several BBC strands in India for both BBC and BBC World. She was a presenter on Travel TV for four years. Her most recent work was as a co-presenter with Jerry Hall on a series about Eastern philosophy’s journey West for BBC.
Hardy is a director of the NGO, Development Research and Action Group, in India that she wrote about in Goat. It sets up schools in slum areas of Delhi that have been over-looked by the bigger international agencies, usually because of the problems of slum politics. After the earthquake in Kashmir in October 2005 she was involved in setting up an NGO with some Kashmiri friends in The Valley. The Kashmir Welfare Trust builds homes, schools and medical centers in some of the worst affected areas, as well as moving into conflict mediation. In England she is part of New Bridge, a foundation working on the rehabilitation of life sentence prisoners before release.
Hardy has been studying Eastern philosophy and yoga all through her adult life. She teaches yoga and philosophy in the UK and in India, both in Delhi and in the schools that The Kashmir Welfare Trust has in The Valley.
Interested in booking Justine Hardy to speak at your next event?
Hardy’s latest book In the Valley of Mist: Kashmir, One Family in a Changing World, is a personal, moving, and vibrant picture of one of the most beautiful and troubled places in the world -- described through the experiences of one family, whose fortunes have changed dramatically with those of the region. It is the 2010 Dayton Literary Peace Prize runner-up for non-fiction.
Hardy also writes for The Financial Times. She freelances for The Times, various Condé Nast magazines such as Vanity Fair and Traveler, as well as other publications.
As a documentary maker and presenter Hardy started at Channel 4 in 1996 on BAFTA-nominated series Urban Jungle. She has worked on several BBC strands in India for both BBC and BBC World. She was a presenter on Travel TV for four years. Her most recent work was as a co-presenter with Jerry Hall on a series about Eastern philosophy’s journey West for BBC.
Hardy is a director of the NGO, Development Research and Action Group, in India that she wrote about in Goat. It sets up schools in slum areas of Delhi that have been over-looked by the bigger international agencies, usually because of the problems of slum politics. After the earthquake in Kashmir in October 2005 she was involved in setting up an NGO with some Kashmiri friends in The Valley. The Kashmir Welfare Trust builds homes, schools and medical centers in some of the worst affected areas, as well as moving into conflict mediation. In England she is part of New Bridge, a foundation working on the rehabilitation of life sentence prisoners before release.
Hardy has been studying Eastern philosophy and yoga all through her adult life. She teaches yoga and philosophy in the UK and in India, both in Delhi and in the schools that The Kashmir Welfare Trust has in The Valley.
Interested in booking Justine Hardy to speak at your next event?
Contact Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau.
(866) 248-3049
info@simonspeakers.com
- Facing The Mental Health Crisis
- Conflict Resolution From The Bottom Up
- Amoral Aid
- Either Side of the Veil
