Lynne O'Donnell

Represented By: Ivan Mulcahy

Lynne O’Donnell has spent decades on the front lines of history, from the shadowy corridors of power in China to the battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq. She reported through years of censorship and surveillance in Beijing, before moving into war zones where terrorism, corruption, and violence reshaped nations and lives.

Her first book, High Tea in Mosul, told the extraordinary story of two Englishwomen who built lives under Saddam Hussein’s brutal regime. Her forthcoming Godfather of Terror plunges into the criminal and extremist networks that thrive in chaos, exposing the hidden forces driving global insecurity.

Educated in War Studies at King’s College London, Lynne brings rare authority and an unsparing eye to her work. She has interviewed warlords, terrorists, and survivors, chronicling both the machinery of conflict and the resilience of those trapped inside it.

A fellow of the Dart Centre for Journalism and Trauma at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism, she also writes about the scars of war on families, communities, and the journalists who bear witness.

Fearless, unflinching, and humane, Lynne writes where most fear to go, illuminating the darkness of war and terrorism with stories that are as urgent as they are unforgettable.