Tim Butcher

As a journalist between 1990 and 2009 Butcher worked for The Daily Telegraph newspaper, holding a series of positions including leader writer, war correspondent, Africa Bureau Chief, and Middle East Correspondent. He remains a regular contributor to the BBC radio programme From Our Own Correspondent and has written for numerous British, US and international publications.

As an author he published in 2007 his first book Blood River: A Journey to Africa's Broken Heart,{{cite book|author=Butcher, Tim|title=Blood River: A Journey to Africa's Broken Heart|date=2007|publisher=Chatto & Windus}} an account of his 2004 journey through Democratic Republic of the Congo ("DR Congo") overland from Lake Tanganyika and down the Congo River, following the route of Henry Morton Stanley's 1874–77 trans-Africa expedition. The book, published by Chatto & Windus, reached Number 1 in the Sunday Times best-seller list[https://web.archive.org/web/20100605093019/http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/ Sunday Times UK non-fiction bestseller lists 8/3/2008 and 15/3/2008] and also appeared on the New York Times best-seller list.[https://www.nytimes.com/best-sellers-books/2015-07-05/e-book-nonfiction/list.html New York Times e non-fiction bestseller list 5/7/2015]

Translated into six languages, Blood River was the only non-fiction title in the Richard & Judy Book Club 2008 and was shortlisted that year for a number of British writing awards including the Samuel Johnson Prize,[http://www.thesamueljohnsonprize.co.uk/sjnav/books/10/ Samuel Johnson Prize shortlist 2008] the Dolman Best Travel Book Award, and the Writers' Guild of Great Britain Best Book award. The book's Polish version, Rzeka Krwi (translated by Jakub Czernik and published in 2009 by Carta Blanca), was longlisted for the 2010 Ryszard Kapuściński Prize.[http://www.kulturalna.warszawa.pl/kapuscinski,4,872.html?locale=en_GB] Ryszard Kapuscinski Award longlist 2009

In 2009, Butcher wrote a chapter for Because I am a Girl (January 2010),{{cite book|title=Because I am a Girl|date=2010|publisher=Vintage |author=Tim Butcher |author2=Xiaolu Guo |author3=Joanne Harris |author4=Kathy Lette |author5=Henning Mankell |author6=Deborah Moggach |author7=Marie Phillips |author8=Irvine Welsh}} a charitable compilation of stories focusing on the plight of young women and girls in the developing world. Published by Vintage, the book was the brainchild of Plan International, a leading children's rights aid group.

Butcher's second major work, Chasing the Devil: The Search for Africa's Fighting Spirit (2010),{{cite book|author=Butcher, Tim|title=Chasing the Devil: The Search for Africa's Fighting Spirit|date=2010|publisher=Chatto & Windus}} describes a 350-mile trek through Sierra Leone and Liberia following a trail blazed by Graham Greene and recounted in Greene's Journey Without Maps (1936). It was longlisted for the Orwell Prize for political writing.[http://theorwellprize.co.uk/longlists/filter/type-Book%20Prize/year-2011/] Orwell Prize longlist 2011

In 2010, he received an honorary Doctorate from the University of Northampton in the United Kingdom, for service as a journalist and author.

He also contributed a chapter to Ox Travels: Meetings with Remarkable Travel Writers (Ox Tales) (released in May 2011),{{cite book|title=Ox Travels: Meetings with Remarkable Travel Writers (Ox Tales) |editor=Mark Ellingham |editor2=Peter Florence |editor3=Barnaby Rogerson |publisher=Profile Books|date=2011|isbn=978-1-84668-496-8|url=https://archive.org/details/oxtravelsmeeting0000unse|url-access=registration}} another compilation, this time on behalf of Oxfam, the international confederation working against poverty and injustice.

In 2012, Blood River became a text used in AS Level English Language and Literature Combined, alongside Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness.{{cite web|url=http://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/english/as-and-a-level/english-language-and-literature-b-2725/subject-content/unit-2|title=English Language and Literature B Subject content Unit 2 – Themes in Language and Literature|publisher=AQA|access-date=18 September 2016}}

In 2013, he was awarded the Mungo Park Medal by the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, in recognition of achievements as an explorer and educator.[http://rsgs.org/inspiring-people/medals-awards/mungo-park-medal/ Mungo Park 2013 medal award announcement]

His most recent book, The Trigger – Hunting the Assassin who Brought the World to War was published in May 2014 by Chatto & Windus.{{cite book|author=Butcher, Tim|title=The Trigger – Hunting the Assassin who Brought the World to War|date=2014|publisher=Chatto & Windus}} It tells the story of Gavrilo Princip, the teenage assassin who triggered the First World War by assassinating Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria in Sarajevo, on 28 June 1914.

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• {{cite web|url=http://kevinegperry.com/2008/10/10/journeying-to-africas-broken-heart-tim-butcher/ |publisher=KevinPerry.com|title=Tim Butcher interview on Blood River|date=10 October 2008}}
• {{cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB122541355388886513 |title=Solo in the Congo: Review of Blood River |author= Geoff Wisner |author-link= Geoff Wisner |work= The Wall Street Journal |year=2008}}
• {{cite news|url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article6975847.ece |title=Amanda Ross on Why Blood River Did Well in the Richard & Judy Book Club|work=The Times}}{{dead link|date=January 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}

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• [http://www.tim-butcher.com Tim Butcher's Official Site]

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Category:1967 births

Category:Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford

Category:Living people

Category:English male journalists

Category:People educated at Rugby School

Category:English journalists

Category:English war correspondents

Category:The Daily Telegraph people

Category:English travel writers