Jan Goodwin

Jan Goodwin is an award-winning journalist and author, and writer for many national publications, including the NYTimes. Article topics include: investigative reportage; social justice;  war, conflict and human rights;  international issues;  medicine and health; and profiles. Fellowships include: Sr. Fellow

at Brandeis University’s Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism, and Soros Media Fellow . Interviews include heads of state, royalty and rebel leaders, and numerous personalities.

BOOKS:

“Price of Honor” examines how Islamic extremism is affecting the lives of Muslim women, (published by Little, Brown, paperback by Plume-Penguin, and a Book-of-the-Month Club Selection). Reporting conducted in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Israel (West Bank & Gaza), and Egypt. “Price of Honor” is a New York Times “notable book,” and is a course requirement at colleges across the country. 

“Caught in the Crossfire” (E.P. Dutton) for which Goodwin spent three months traveling in wartorn Afghanistan behind enemy lines. “CinC” was nominated as the best book on the war by the L.A. Times, and the book of the year by Nobel Laureate Doris Lessing for the London Sunday Times. 

 Both books have been translated into a number of languages. 

Goodwin has covered conflicts in 17 countries: Afghanistan, Angola, Bosnia, Cambodia, Democratic Republic of Congo, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Iran, Iraq, Kosovo, the Middle East and Gulf, Northern Ireland, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and Uganda. She has testified before Congress on a number of occasions, been an expert witness in political asylum cases, and served on the White House Cambodia Crisis Committee. 

She lectures & speaks both in the U.S. and abroad to audiences ranging from Congressional breakfasts; the Foreign Policy Association; the National Press Club; women’s and professional organizations; and many universities. She is a former judge for the National Magazine Awards, the magazine world’s Pulitzer Prizes.

National honors and awards:

** Three Amnesty International Media Awards

** Frontpage Award for Outstanding Journalism for “War Torn” series

** Clarion Award for an anti-child pornography series, for which I was honored by the White House

** Two Emmas for political coverage

** Winner of the World Hunger Media Award

** Former Soros Foundation Media Fellow

** 2011 James Aronson Award for Social Justice Journalism 

** 2011 Clarion Award for a Ladies’ Home Journal article on political asylees

** 2011 Clarion Award for a Good Housekeeping article on the poor healthcare female veterans receive

** 2011 Grand Prize Winner, Meredith Publications Creative Excellence Awards

** Also hold numerous national association awards. 

Humanitarian work:         

In a hiatus from journalism, started and ran Save the Children’s multi-million humanitarian program in Peshawar for war-torn Afghanistan for four years. Funded by USAID, UN and the EU, project included: mother & child health; income-generating/microenterprise; reconstruction of bomb-damaged infrastructure: schools, hospitals and clinics, roads, etc., as well as transporting humanitarian aid into Afghanistan. 

 My involvement with Save the Children was an outgrowth of my longtime human rights activism.

Media interviews:

TV appearances include: “The Today Show,” “Good Morning America,” CBS News, NBC News, CNN, MSNBC, “Larry King Show,” “Nightline,” and Oxygen. Have also given many print and radio interviews. 

Other Affiliations

Member of the Committee to Protect Journalists; the Authors Guild; the American Society of Journalists and Authors.