About
I grew up in two small towns - Nairn in the Scottish Highlands and Rose Hill on the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius. Both places feel like home to me.
Much of my working life has been abroad. I started out as a teacher in inner-city London, Mexico City and the Gaza Strip, later becoming a freelance foreign reporter.
My first job in journalism was with the Economist Group, writing for a Brussels-based newspaper called European Voice, covering the nooks and crannies of EU politics and business.
Hankering after the human factor, I moved to a big country with lots of snow and, well, a few humans: Canada. While I was there, I wrote about a lot of very Canadian things – beavers, maple syrup, mayors who smoke crack … I also learned how to shovel snow – lots of it.
Based in London, I regularly report from further afield. In recent years, I’ve covered stories like protests in Iran, Iraqi militia rivalries and war in Cameroon.
What else? I’m highly fluent in French and Mauritian Creole, reasonably so in Spanish. I'm currently learning Farsi.
I have a post-grad journalism diploma from the UK’s National Council for the Training of Journalists and accreditation from the UK’s National Union of Journalistsand the International Federation of Journalists .
HEFAT certified – AKE, 2023.
Contact details: +44 7941 374 197 / lorrainemallinder@yahoo.co.uk / @lormallinder
On the Iran-Iraq border, 2022