Mary Harper is a journalist and author specialising in Africa, especially Somalia and the wider Horn. Mary is the BBC’s Africa Editor and has reported on events on the continent since the early 1990s. She is the author of Everything You Have Told Me is True: The Many Faces of Al Shabaab (Hurst) and Getting Somalia Wrong? Faith, War and Hope in a Shattered State (Zed Books). Mary has contributed chapters to other books, and writes for academic journals and the media including The Guardian, The Economist and The Washington Post. She’s a fellow of The Rift Valley Institute and The Heritage Institute for Policy Studies. Mary speaks regularly at conferences, literary festivals and other events, and is an experienced moderator.Mary has degrees from Cambridge University and The School of Oriental and African Studies. She speaks English, French, Portuguese and Wolof.