George Alagiah Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

George Alagiah
George Alagiah is a British journalist, newsreader, and television news presenter. He was born November 22, 1955 in Colombo, Ceylon. Donald and Therese, both of his parents, were Sri Lankan Tamil, and was the only son in a family with four sisters.

He went to boarding school in England at twelve years old. While he was there, his mom would write to him religiously each week, and George was only able to get around to sending a response around once per month.

In the year 1961, his parents moved out to Ghana in West Africa, where he received his primary education at Christ the King International School. The years he lived here were very important, and were the times when he had the sense that things were going well for his family. He understood that there was a new beginning, which is something that stuck with him.

By eleven, he arrived in England and by the age of sixteen, he was starting to get more confident and more able to express himself.

George attended St. John’s College in Portsmouth, England for secondary education. He read politics at Van Mildert College, Durham University. While he was at Durham, he wrote for and became editor of the student paper Palatinate and was one of the sabbatical officers of Durham Students’ Union.

George joined the BBC in the year 1989, after he spent seven years in print journalism with South Magazine. Before he went behind the studio desk, he was one of the BBC’s leading foreign correspondents. In the year 2004, he has presented for the BBC Six O’Clock News.

He has interviewed people such as Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela, and he has covered the conflicts in places like Iraq and Kosovo. In doing so, he has won many awards for all of his fearless reporting.

He met Frances Robathan at Durham University and married her in the year 1984. Together they have two sons, Matthew and Adam.

His novel “The Burning Land” is based on some real events that George witnessed, but could not report on them during his time as a BBC correspondent in South Africa. It deals with themes of environmental activism, xenophobia, the meaning patriotism, and political responsibility.

He has won many awards for his work on television, which include: Amnesty International and The Royal Television Society among some others.

George’s debut novel, called “The Burning Land”, was released in the year 2019 and is a thriller. He has written some non-fiction books, too about his experiences being an immigrant in a new country.

“A Passage to Africa” is the first non-fiction and was released in the year 2001. When George Alagiah emigrated with the rest of his family to Ghana. This is his shattering catalogue of the atrocities made into a portrait of Africa that is infused with insight, hope, and outrage.

The book shows young George when he gets to Ghana, the wonder that he recounts his initial impressions of Africa and all the affection that he dresses all his stories about his early family life. There is a sense of possibility that lingers, despite the book being filled with some tough truths.

The personal element, readers found, gives this book its originality, and George is able to make Africa not just a group of nations or a huge continent but an epic of individual suffering and pride.

“A Home From Home” is the second non-fiction and was released in the year 2006. When George Alagiah got dropped off at a boarding school in Hampshire boarding school as a kid back in the year, he got confronted with one of the extreme versions of the private struggle all immigrants face. The struggle to leave behind the past in order to fit into a new culture.

His arrival in Britain coincided with the unhappy intrusion of race getting into politics. One of the key things in the ensuing battle against racism was the idea of multi-culturalism. George suggests that multi-culturalism might be more of an impediment to integration. Above all, the book serves as an evocative and tender portrayal of the immigrant’s experience.

George is able to bring life and some color to a subject that is far too often only reduced to screaming in the headlines in the tabloids, and it sheds light on a controversial question about British identity.

“The Burning Land” is the first stand alone novel and was released in the year 2019. It was not at all meant to be like this. Propaganda and sabotage, yeah sure. Every bit of that and more, but not this. Not murder.

South Africa has turned into a powder keg. Its precious land has been sold off to the highest bidders while the corrupt elite in the country take the profits. While the hopes and dreams of the people are threatened, frustration goes to violence. With the stunning murder of one of the country’s bright young hopes, the fuse has been truly, well lit.

When Lindi, a conflict mediator, goes back home to the country where she was born and becomes reunited with Kagiso, her childhood friend. All of a sudden, the professional gets deeply personal and they find that they are at the core of the chaos. They’ve just days to save themselves and this country that they love, even while events get set in motion that nobody, least of all they, are able to control.

Readers found this novel to be an enlightening and suspenseful read. It portrays the extreme violence inside the new South Africa with precision of detail, authority, as well as the type of insight that makes the different characters and factions caught in the middle of the drama being brought vividly to life. Fans found this to be a stylish and gripping novel, and George does a great job of infusing his experiences in the region to tell a great story. The novel examines the corruption and the greed that is able to taint all the optimism of one nation, and where political gets deeply personal for old childhood friends.