Florence Aubenas, 60, is a French journalist, writer and reporter. She joined the daily newspaper Libération in 1986 and worked there for more than 20 years before joining the Nouvel Observateur and then Le Monde, reporting on events in areas of conflict and violence including Algeria, Rwanda, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.
She is the author of several books, which have received awards including an Académie Française Prix d’Académie and the Joseph Kessel Prize: En France (Olivier), a collection of her columns for Le Monde, Le Quai de Ouistreham, in which she posed as a job seeker and spent six months working alongside cleaning ladies on a ferry near Caen or La méprise. L’Affaire d’Outreau (published by Seuil).
In 2005, her name and her face changed: they became those of a hostage. While reporting on refugees in Fallujah, Iraq, she was kidnapped, along with her “fixer” Hussein Hanoun al-Saadi. They were both released after six months.
Born in Belgium in 1961, she returned there as soon as possible: it is the country of her childhood where she lived until the age of 18. The distinction that UCLouvain is giving her today is therefore of particular value to her.
Between in-depth reporting, field investigations and works of fiction, Aubenas is careful to tell the truth with rigour and accuracy.