Biographer discusses journalist friend's dedication to reporting on wars

It wasn’t our intention to make today’s newswire theme “strong women,” but we’re not sorry it happened.

Journalist Lindsey Hilsum was close friends with war correspondent Marie Colvin, who died in 2012 when the Syrian government shelled the building she was staying in.

Colvin had already sustained a serious eye injury while covering the Sri Lankan civil war, plus post-traumatic stress disorder from innumerable war zones, but she hadn’t let any of that stop her from telling the stories that needed to be told.

So Hilsum, in turn, has told Colvin’s story in a new book, In Extremis: The Life and Death of the War Correspondent Marie Colvin. (There’s also a new biopic, called A Private War, staring Rosamund Pike.)

Hilsum talked about her friend’s incredible determination, as well as the book, on a recent Weekend Edition.

You can listen below or read interview highlights on NPR’s website.