Paul Harris graduated from Aberdeen University with an MA in Politics and International Relations and currently works as a writer, lecturer and as a consultant on political risk issues. During the 1980s he was an export consultant in former Yugoslavia and in 1991 became a journalist there after his plane was destroyed on the runway at Slovenia’s Ljubljana airport.

He worked for 12 years as a journalist specialising in military and defence matters: for almost ten years he was specialist contributor on terrorism and global insurgency for Janes Intelligence Review. He has worked in Sri Lanka – as Colombo correspondent for The Daily Telegraph – and in China where he was an editor on The Shanghai Daily newspaper. He won a British Press Award for his reporting from Bosnia and is the author of 42 books including a number of photographic books reflecting his extensive travels: Cry Bosnia, Fractured Paradise: Images of Sri Lanka, and About Face: Pictures from the Streets of Shanghai. The story of his journalistic career More Thrills than Skills: Adventures in Journalism, War & Terrorism was published in the summer of 2009. He has lectured professionally on cruise ships for five years. He lives with his wife and five year-old daughter in North Berwick, Scotland, and on the island of Malta.