Be Brave: The Life of a Pacific Correspondent by Barbara Dreaver

Barbara Dreaver is a familiar face across the Pacific, having covered the region for more than 30 years.

During that time she's been locked up in Fiji, threatened in Papua New Guinea, detained in Nauru, endangered in the Solomons and exposed the Pacific’s methamphetamine trade and its shadowy figures. She has uncovered Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s role in a deadly Samoan measles outbreak, and borne witness to the machinations of China and the United States as they vie for dominance in the region.

In this memoir, the TVNZ correspondent gives readers an insight into these stories, and many more, and her life. She writes with warmth and humour, offering readers a peek into the reality of being a journalist. While journalists tell other people's stories, many are unaccustomed to speaking about themselves. The book opens with an account of a drowning in Tahiti, where Dreaver and cameraman Mike Fitzgerald save a life. It is abrupt and places readers right in the middle of the action. Dreaver makes it clear from the very first page that this is no chronological recount of someone's life.

Dreaver embodies the book's title, bravely sharing many deeply personal moments from her life and career. Some moments are heartbreaking, while others will have readers laughing out loud. 

Dreaver also gives readers a glimpse behind the business of news - the challenges to build trust, navigate politics and policies, and the reality of establishing live crosses.

Full colour photographs are included within the book, spanning the decades Dreaver discusses.

Her story also highlights why specialist reporting matters. Born and raised in Kiribati, Dreaver wants people to understand how important, beautiful, and complicated the region is. Through her constant presence on our screens to these pages, she offers readers a front seat to an often misunderstood and underrepresented region.

Reviewer: Rebekah Lyell

Awa Press