Journalist and free press champion Peter Greste will be joining the Literary Allsorts in Kyogle on June 14 for a special in-conversation event.
Kyogle Readers and Writers Festival organisers announced the reporter’s inclusion in the program.
Greste is an award-winning foreign correspondent who spent 25 years working for the BBC, Reuters and Al Jazeera in some of the world’s most volatile places.
He has reported from the frontlines of Afghanistan, Latin American, Africa and the Middle East.
He became a headline when he was arrested in Cairo in 2013 with two of his colleagues while working for Al Jazeera.
He was arrested by Egyptian authorities and found guilty of falsifying news and having a negative impact on overseas perceptions of the country and sentenced to seven years prison. The Australian Government intervened and negotiated on his behalf with a new Egyptian government.
On 1 February 2015, Greste was officially deported to Australia.
It was a harrowing time and Greste’s memoir from that time The Correspondent has been re-released and adapted into a major feature film The First Casualty.
Come and listen to Greste in conversation – details to be announced soon.
Organisers said festival favourite Tony Birch will not be joining this year’s event.
For more line-up details go to kraw.com.au
Tickets go on sale May 3.
This information was provided by KRAW.
