Award-Winning Foreign & War Correspondent; Human Rights Advocate; Executive Director of The Reckoning Project; Senior Fellow at Yale University's Jackson School of Global Affairs
Janine di Giovanni Biography
Janine di Giovanni is a globally recognized civil-society leader, geopolitical analyst, and one of the world’s foremost authorities on war crimes, mass atrocities, and accountability. An award-winning war correspondent with more than 35 years of frontline experience, she has reported from 18 conflict zones and three genocides, bearing witness at the sharp edge of history. Her work sits at the intersection of journalism, international law, and human rights enforcement, with deep expertise spanning the Middle East, the Balkans, Ukraine/Russia, and Africa.
She is the Founder and CEO of The Reckoning Project, an EU-funded war-crimes documentation unit that works directly with prosecutors to build cases against perpetrators of international crimes. Her organization’s investigations have contributed to active accountability efforts at the national and international level. Di Giovanni is also a Senior Fellow at Yale University’s Jackson School of Global Affairs, where she teaches Human Rights and regularly convenes leading policymakers, jurists, and practitioners shaping the future of justice in conflict.
A former Guggenheim Fellow, di Giovanni is the recipient of the American Academy of Arts and Letters’ highest prize for nonfiction, as well as more than a dozen major international awards for journalism and human rights reporting. She has been named one of the 100 most influential people in the world working to reduce armed violence, and is a recipient of the International Women’s Media Foundation Courage in Journalism Award and two Amnesty International Media Awards.
She has held senior fellowships at the Council on Foreign Relations (Edward R. Murrow Fellow), Yale Law School’s Schell Center for International Human Rights, Johns Hopkins’ Agora Institute, and Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and currently serves as a non-resident International Security Fellow at New America and the Geneva Centre for Policy Studies.
Di Giovanni is the author of nine books, including "The Vanishing" and "The Morning They Came for Us: Dispatches from Syria," translated into 28 languages and praised by The New York Times as “necessary and devastating.” A longtime contributor to Vanity Fair, Foreign Affairs, Harper’s, and The New York Times, she is also a Global Affairs columnist for The National, where her work reaches senior political and business leaders across the Middle East and Europe.
A sought-after global speaker, she has taught at Yale, Columbia SIPA, and Sciences Po, and regularly moderates and speaks at the World Economic Forum, Munich Security Conference, United Nations, World Bank, and other high-level international forums. Her TED Talk, "What I Saw in the War," has been viewed over one million times.
Beyond journalism and academia, di Giovanni has advised UNHCR, the European Union, NATO, and senior government officials on Syria, accountability, and conflict-related human rights, bringing rare credibility from both the field and the policy arena. She is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations and serves on the advisory board of the Atlas of Impunity.
She holds an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, an MA from The Fletcher School, and an MA from the University of London. Her debut novel, "Evidence," will be published in 2027.
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Janine di Giovanni Speaking Topics
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Behind the Headlines: What War Taught Me About the Middle East—and What the World Gets Wrong
As someone who has reported from the frontlines of every major conflict in the region, Janine di Giovanni offers a firsthand narrative that challenges Western assumptions about the Middle East. This talk explores how the lived realities of war—among civilians, fighters, and policymakers—reveal a far more nuanced and human region than the one seen in the news cycle. It’s a journey through memory, myth, and media, aimed at reframing how we think about power, people, and peace.
Audience Appeal: Global affairs audiences, diplomats, journalists, policymakers, businessmen
Tone: Honest, powerful, perspective-shifting
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The Middle East Beyond the Battlefield: Conflict, Complexity, and the Next Chapter
Having covered the region’s wars for years, Janine di Giovanni now asks: what comes next? This talk bridges frontline experience with regional trends—political reform, generational change, and post- war rebuilding—to paint a forward-looking picture. Listeners will gain an insider’s take on how power dynamics are shifting from militias to ministries, from oil to AI, and from trauma to transition.
Audience Appeal: Business leaders, investors, think tanks, development agencies
Tone: Strategic, analytical, cautiously optimistic
Janine di Giovanni Videos
Seriously Entertaining: Janine di Giovanni on "All That Glitters"
JANINE DI GIOVANNI, war reporter and Executive Director and Co-Founder of THE RECKONING PROJECT, a war crimes unit in Ukraine that documents...
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Speaking fees for Janine di Giovanni, or any other speakers and celebrities, are determined based on a number of factors and may change without notice. The estimated fees to book Janine di Giovanni are $30,000 - $50,000 for live events and $30,000 - $50,000 for virtual events. For the most current speaking fee to hire Janine di Giovanni, click the Check Availability button above and complete the form on this page, or call our office at 1.800.698.2536 to speak directly with an experienced booking agent. -
What topics does Janine di Giovanni speak about?
Janine di Giovanni is a keynote speaker and industry expert whose speaking topics include Author, Bestselling Authors, Business Authors, Corporate Strategy, Empowerment, ESG, Female Leadership, Geopolitics, Government, Influential Women, Inspirational, Journalist, News & Media, Non-Profit, Personal Growth, Political, Professors, Social Activism, Strategic Leadership, Sustainability, Technology, TED, Women in Business, Women's Health, Women's Rights, World Affairs -
Where does Janine di Giovanni travel from?
Janine di Giovanni generally travels from Paris, France, but can be booked for private corporate events, personal appearances, keynote speeches, or other performances. For more details, please contact an AAE Booking agent. -
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Janine di Giovanni is a keynote speaker and industry expert who speaks on a wide range of topics such as Behind the Headlines: What War Taught Me About the Middle East—and What the World Gets Wrong, The Middle East Beyond the Battlefield: Conflict, Complexity, and the Next Chapter, Witness to the Fire: Voices of War, Resilience, and Dignity in the Middle East and Additional Keynote Topics. The estimated speaking fee range to book Janine di Giovanni for your event is $30,000 - $50,000. Janine di Giovanni generally travels from Paris, France and can be booked for (private) corporate events, personal appearances, keynote speeches, or other performances. Similar motivational celebrity speakers are Dambisa Moyo, Laura Ling, Amy Goodman, Shiza Shahid and Joyce Maynard. Contact All American Speakers for ratings, reviews, videos and information on scheduling Janine di Giovanni for an upcoming live or virtual event.
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