Cardiff BookTalk: The Optician of Lampedusa by Emma Jane Kirby

Event in partnership with Cardiff Amnesty International. An author-led event.

The award-winning former BBC journalist Emma-Jane Kirby spoke at October’s joint Cardiff Amnesty International Human Rights Book Club / Cardiff University BookTalk event. In conversation with Tom Davies, Amnesty International Campaign Manager, Emma-Jane discussed her book The Optician of Lampedusa.

The novel shines a spotlight on the ongoing refugee crisis in the Mediterranean Sea, telling the true story of an ordinary Italian who rescued drowning migrants. The book vividly exposes the heart-breaking humanitarian tragedy that has been taking place on Europe’s doorstep and the lack of welcome Europe has given to some of the world’s most desperate and vulnerable people.

During the years Emma-Jane Kirby worked as a BBC foreign correspondent, she made many reports from the frontline of the migrant crisis in the Mediterranean. Her voice will be familiar to listeners of Radio 4's news programmes The World at One and PM.