Write On! Atención Book Club Presents Martin Fletcher on August 25th

By Catherine Marenghi

Atención Book Club proudly presents Martin Fletcher, journalist, author, and retired NBC News Middle East correspondent best known for nearly four decades of frontline reporting from conflict zones as Tel Aviv bureau chief. Fletcher will present his book Teachers: The Ones I Can’t Forget, on August 25^th at 3:00 p.m. at the historic Casa Nigromante, Umarán #38, Centro.

Fletcher's career encompassed reporting on pivotal events including the Israeli-Palestinian intifadas, the Persian Gulf War, the wars in Afghanistan and Kosovo, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Rwandan genocide, and the Israel-Hezbollah conflict, often under hazardous conditions that demanded on-the-ground presence amid active combat and disasters. In addition to numerous awards for his broadcast journalism, he is also the acclaimed author of several memoirs and novels exploring the realities of war reporting.

In his book Teachers: The Ones I Can’t Forget, Fletcher recalls the teachers he met throughout his work as a news correspondent, often on the worst day of their lives. He watched as they picked up the pieces following personal tragedy and discovered the invaluable lesson of carrying on, no matter the circumstances.

Through intimate profiles, Teachers details the struggles of everyday people in extraordinary circumstances—war, revolution, natural disasters, and everyday life. Fletcher's writing is uplifting as he examines the truth of resilience despite hardship. These are the people he sought out in his international reporting, detailing their woes while celebrating their will to survive and recover.

"I think this is the most meaningful book I've written, meaningful for me. Each chapter made me laugh and cry. I was a wreck writing it, but a nice wreck,” Fletcher recalled.

According to Anderson Cooper, "Martin Fletcher has been the gold standard of television war correspondents.” Fletcher was born in London in 1947, the son of Georg and Edith, Austrian Jewish refugees. He graduated from the University of Bradford in 1970. He worked as a French and German interpreter for the European Economic Community. He began his television career as a news programming writer for Visnews in the UK in 1970. He joined the BBC, writing on the main evening television news program, the 9 O'Clock News, until returning to Visnews after teaching himself to be a news cameraman. After four years in Belgium, Israel, and Rhodesia, he joined NBC News.

He started with NBC News as a cameraman in 1977 in South Africa. After working in the Paris and Frankfurt bureaus, he began his Tel Aviv assignment as a network correspondent in 1982. He became Bureau Chief in 1996. He has received  five Emmy awards for his work on the first and second Palestinian uprisings, Rwanda, Kosovo, and trauma medicine in Israel.

His numerous other awards include the television Pulitzer, the duPont from Columbia University, five Overseas Press Club awards, several Edward R. Murrow awards, a Hugo gold medal for a documentary on Israel which he shared with other NBC staffers, and an award from the Britain's Royal Television Society.

Fletcher is the author of Breaking News, which has been recognized as one of the best books ever on the work of a foreign correspondent.

His second book, Walking Israel: A Personal Search for the Soul of a Nation, was published in October 2010 and won the American National Jewish Book Award. His first novel, The List, published in 2011, was selected as the One Book One Jewish Community book of the year.

The Atención Book Club features outstanding San Miguel authors in live author presentations. Sponsored by Atención News, the monthly book club is free and open to the public. The San Miguel community is invited to read the author’s book and participate in a Q&A with the author. Books are available from online sources or from Aurora Books, Calzada de la Aurora 48-A, San Miguel.

Atención News is grateful to the University of Guanajuato, owner of the Casa Nigromante, for graciously providing this historic venue. The house is the birthplace of renown Mexican patriot and poet Ignacio Ramirez, “El Nigromante.”

In September, the Atención Book Club will feature Paul Carlino, presenting his memoir, The Year We Ruined Our Lives on September 22^nd, at 3:00 p.m. at Casa Nigromante. For further information, please contact atencionbookclub@gmail.com.

Catherine Marenghi is an author and poet and has published five books. She is active in the vibrant literary community of San Miguel and covers writers and literary happenings for Atención News.