Alex Perry is a non-fiction writer. He is the author of The Good Mothers, The Rift, Falling Off The Edge, and Lifeblood, as well as several ebooks, and ghost-wrote Long Shot for Azad Cudi, a British-Kurdish sniper. His journalism has appeared in The New Yorker, Outside, Harper’s, The Guardian, TIME, Newsweek, Roads and Kingdoms, The Sunday Times magazine and others. He is currently at work on Blood Will Flow – the true story of a cataclysmic massacre in Mozambique in 2021, and what it tells us about the global oil and gas industry – due to be published by WW Norton and Ithaka Press in 2025.
Alex’s journalism has won a number of awards and his investigation into Boko Haram’s use of beheadings was requested as evidence by the International Criminal Court in The Hague. At times, he has been recognised in other ways. In 2002, the Indian government tried to deport him when he questioned the state of the Prime Minister’s health. In 2007 Alex was held in jail in Zimbabwe for five days for working without accreditation before being convicted of being a “determined and resourceful journalist.”
Born in Philadelphia and raised in England, from 1999-2014, Perry lived and worked in Asia and Africa. He now lives in Hampshire, England.
Awards and Distinctions:
2023
The Good Mothers nominated for Best Foreign Language Series at the Critics Choice Awards.
The Good Mothers, winner, Best Non-English Drama, at the C21 International Drama Awards.
The Good Mothers nominated for a Rose d’Or, for Best Drama.
The Good Mothers listed among The Economist’s best television shows of 2023. “Set in 2010, this show tells the stories of women who dared to defy the ’Ndrangheta, the mafia of Calabria. It has none of the insidious glamour that clings to the “Godfather” movies—and to many productions made since. This is noir that is uncompromisingly dark.”
Nastri d’Argento (Silver Ribbon), Best Supporting Actress, Valentina Bellè, for The Good Mothers. The series was nominated for three other awards: best series, best actress (Barbara Chichiarelli), and best actor (Francesco Colella).
Winner, Berlinale Festival’s first ever Series Award. For The Good Mothers, a 6-part adaption for Disney+, by House Productions and Wildside. “The Good Mothers captured us with its multi-layered characters that are treated with care and allowed to evolve before our very eyes. We were moved, anxious and, at times, breathless. The series’ creators have been meticulous in recreating an authentic and detailed world, presented by a stellar cast, with performances that made our hearts skip a beat. The beautiful cinematography, production design and locations contribute to the ultra-realistic feel of the show, which is only right, considering it is based on true events and on real life characters – the courageous women who stood up to decades of oppression and misogyny and helped bring down the Calabrian mafia.”
Winner, Sydney Schanberg prize at the George Polk awards. For The Siege of the Amarula, Outside Magazine. The prize honours “highly distinguished, deep coverage of armed conflicts; local, state or federal government corruption; military injustice; war crimes, genocide or sedition; or authoritarian government abuses” of at least 5,000 words “that results from staying with a story, sometimes at great risk or sacrifice.”
2022
The Volcano: Rescue from Whakaari, a Moxie Films documentary adaptation of Alex’s Outside Magazine story The True Story of the White Island Eruption, on which Alex was a co-executive producer, became Netflix’s No. 1 film in 23 countries on release in December 2022, and made the top 10 in 76 countries. The film attracted an estimated audience of 52-87 million in its first 10 days.
Society of American Travel Writers, Travel News/Investigative Reporting, Second Place. For The World’s Most Dangerous Mountains, Outside magazine. “That the reporter has been to this remote and dangerous area of the Iraq-Iran border goes well beyond the use of first person. Readers can see the men and women burdened with outrageous weight as they trudge up the mountain and can hear them calling for a boy lost in a storm. The writer provides the history and politics that set up this horrifying route through some of the harshest country imaginable.“
2021
Finalist, Arts and Culture Story of the Year, Foreign Press Association (London). For The Plot to Kill the Olympics, Outside magazine.
Finalist, excellence in feature writing, Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA). For The True Story of the White Island Eruption, Outside magazine. “Well-written, thoroughly reported and very, very gripping.” The New York Times.
2020
The Ed Cunningham Award, best magazine-style, long-form narrative feature in print or digital on an international story, Overseas Press Club of America. For The Last Days of John Allen Chau, Outside magazine. “In this superb feat of compulsively readable storytelling, Alex Perry weaves a deeply humanising portrait of a young man with a deadly missionary zeal and illuminates the ongoing effects of missionary work, adventurism and the exoticism of the world’s remote peoples.”
Society of American Travel Writers, Travel News/Investigative Reporting, Third Place. For The Last Days of John Allen Chau, Outside magazine. “Skilful writing and masterful story-telling capture the behind-the-scenes story of a young man’s fateful odyssey to convert a little-known island tribe to Christianity. The story is told in intricate detail … The writer’s own journey to the area created extraordinary and engaging journalism.”
2019
Nominated for a 2019 Edgar® Award for Best Fact Crime for The Good Mothers.
The Good Mothers named a CrimeReads best Nonfiction Crime Book of 2018.
2015
British Society of Magazine Editors Rising Star Awards, Best Print Writer, Highly Commended, for Clooney’s War and Inside the Hunt for Boko Haram, Newsweek.
Kurt Schork Memorial Awards in International Journalism, Freelance Journalist Covering International News, shortlisted for Clooney’s War, Inside the Hunt for Boko Haram and Once Upon a Jihad, Newsweek.
2010
Foreign Press Association, London, Sports Story of the Year, for Playing the Rebel Game (about the World Cup in South Africa), TIME magazine.
2008
Genesis Awards, Commendation, for Eden for Peaceful Apes (about bonobos in Congo), TIME magazine.
2004
South Asia Journalists Association, The Daniel Pearl Award for Outstanding Story on South Asia, Second Place, for Living on the Brink (about Nepal’s civil war), TIME magazine.
2002
The Joseph L. Galloway War Correspondents’ Award for Inside the Battle at Qala-i-Jangi, TIME magazine.
American Society of Magazine Editors, National Magazine Awards, Reporting, Finalist for Inside the Battle at Qala-i-Jangi, TIME magazine.
The Society of Publishers in Asia, Certificate of Excellence in Reporting, for Inside the Battle at Qala-i-Jangi, TIME magazine.
The Henry R. Luce Awards, Special Citation, Reporting, for Inside the Battle at Qala-i-Jangi, TIME magazine.
Inside the Battle at Qala-i-Jangi was also included in the anthology, The Best American Magazine Writing, 2002.