In Conversation with Annick Cojean

Join us for a talk with eminent French journalist Annick Cojean, senior reporter for the French daily newspaper Le Monde and President of the Albert Londres prize committee, as she shares about her work as a journalist.

Her reporting work focuses on global women issues and has published books on violence against women during the Syrian civil war and on Gaddafi’s regime.

Annika Cojean chairs the committee for the Prix Albert Londres, (French equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize) which she won in 1996 for her series of five reports entitled ‘Les Mémoires de la Shoah’ (Memoires from the Holocaust).

In her latest book, Je ne serais pas arrivée là si…27 femmes racontent (I would not have arrived there if … 27 women tell), Annick Cojean pays tribute to her recently deceased mother, and also to 27 other women she has interviewed, including Patti Smith, Joan Baez, Marianne Faithfull, Brigitte Bardot, Nicole Kidman, as well as prominent writers and politicians.

Cojean recognises these women as inspiring – identifying them all as, being able to speak with sincerity about the obstacles they faced in life, their dreams, an ability to embrace chaos, and a resilience to change.

While the interviews were conducted before the #MeToo phenomenon, they resonate the sentiment that we can make a difference to women’s lives, but they must be given a platform. Cojean feels that so often the floor has been given to men, such that in her own work as a journalist, she aims to focus on women and their stories.

Annick Cojean was involved in the documentary Le Cri étouffé , directed by Manon Loizeau, which investigated rape as a political weapon during the Syrian Civil War (see below). Her book Gaddafi’s Harem, uncovered the systematic rape and torture of women during Gaddafi’s regime.

All welcome (event in English).

For more information, contact Dr Lea Vuong – lea.vuong@sydney.edu.au