Leslie Cockburn
Leslie Cockburn
Leslie Corkill Redlich Cockburnis an American writer and filmmaker who has covered a wide variety of international stories in almost every part of the globe...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionWriter
Date of Birth2 September 1952
CountryUnited States of America
exposed life risking stories truths worth
Journalism, for me, has always been a calling. There are things that must be exposed to the light, truths that must be uncovered, stories worth risking your life for.
captured drawn experience graham joseph living reading student
After reading Graham Greene and Joseph Conrad when I was a student at Yale, I wanted to live in the world they captured in their books. I had had some experience living in Africa. I was drawn to that kind of adventure.
began graduate nbc school thriving
When I was at graduate school in London, I began working at NBC News, which had a thriving documentary unit.
enclosed wall
It's a very enclosed world on Wall Street.
andrew great
I have a great spouse, Andrew Cockburn, who's also a journalist.
appear complex
In documentary films, the most difficult thing to achieve is to make something complex appear simple.
films job low
I started making little films with a 16 mm camera as an undergraduate at Yale. My first job out of college was 'assistant editor' on a forgettable low budget feature.
inhumanity survives tremendous
When you have a situation that's destructive, when there's tremendous inhumanity everywhere, you see how humanity survives in all of its different permutations.
bring characters cut danger discover full limit reader revealing shades stick war wilderness
When you are on assignment, you stick to the facts, limit your vision, and often cut out the most revealing material. There is no texture, no shades of gray. In fiction, you can bring the reader on the perilous journey with your characters as they discover that war is more like a wilderness of mirrors, full of danger and uncertainty.
lowest man
When I was in London at NBC, I was the lowest man on the totem pole. I would go to diplomatic receptions to meet people.