Asne Seierstad
Asne Seierstad
Åsne Seierstadis a Norwegian freelance journalist and writer, best known for her accounts of everyday life in war zones – most notably Kabul after 2001, Baghdad in 2002 and the ruined Grozny in 2006...
NationalityNorwegian
ProfessionJournalist
Date of Birth10 February 1970
CountryNorway
growing-up vacuums grows
We don't grow up in vacuums. We grow up in societies.
country eye trying
I'm trying to see my own country with fresh eyes.
country writing outsiders
It was very difficult to write about my own country, because I have always been the outsider looking in.
political becoming psychological
There are personal reasons, psychological reasons, but there could also be political reasons for becoming a terrorist.
lying years people
If you've lived in a dictatorship for thirty years, you're used to people lying to you.
men violence accepting
As a woman, you accept the situation, adapt to it, and do your best, whereas men would choose violence.
children war thinking
I was thinking, there are 5 million people, and I am just one of those 5 million. In the build-up to the war you see children playing in the street, and you think, ah, I'm going to be okay.
thinking time-to-leave
I think when you start to get afraid, it's time to leave.
running war risk
As a war correspondent, you have to weigh the risk you run against the story you can get.
believe news-stories trying
I always try to describe the situation just as it is. I try to find sentences that I believe tell the story best. Even my articles are more literary than ordinary news stories.
real objectivity opinion
There is no journalist without opinions, and there's no real objectivity, but we can strive toward it.
war book writing
I would like my book to give people insight to the war before and after, but I don't think anyone could read my book and suddenly make up her mind about the war. I want to write for everybody.
war four solve
Being a war correspondent, and having covered four wars, I know that wars very seldom solve things.
war hands glasses
As the only woman, I was able to sit with the officers in front, with a glass of vodka in one hand and a cucumber in the other. That's how I went to my first war.