John Richens (author)

John Richens is regarded internationally as a leading expert on the sexually transmitted infection donovanosis. He studied classics and medicine at King's College Cambridge and King's College London and then tropical medicine at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. His interest in donovanosis was sparked by patients he encountered while working in the highlands of Papua New Guinea from 1984 to 1990. After returning to the UK he became an academic specialist in HIV and sexually transmitted infections at University College London and overseas as a consultant to the World Health Organization and other aid agencies.

In his book "Tik Merauke" he describes a unique epidemic of donovanosis which affected thousands of the Marind people of New Guinea in the early 20th century. For full reviews of "Tik Merauke" see the Journal of Pacific History: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00223344.2022.2082037 and Bijdragen tot de taal-, land- en volkenkunde / Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences of Southeast Asia https://brill.com/view/journals/bki/178/4/article-p524_13.xml and Pacific Affairs, https://pacificaffairs.ubc.ca/book-reviews/tik-merauke-an-epidemic-like-no-other-by-john-richens/

Rachel Pagones of New Books Network has posted a great in-depth interview with John RIchens about Tik Merauke. Please have a listen at https://newbooksnetwork.com/tik-merauke to learn more about the book, how it came to be written and how the author's ideas changed during researc for the story.

For a second podcast about Tik Merauke try this interview with Maxwell Nanes of the medical history podcast series "Poor Historians". This conversation delves into the medical aspects of the story in more depth. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsOMxTNTYdU&t=4s

A large set of over 40 illustrations from "Tik Merauke" can be seen at https://www.artoftheancestors.com/blog/tik-merauke-john-richens

An account of John Richens' time in Papua New Guinea and how he came to write Tik Merauke has been published as "Pursuing donovanosis in 1980's Papua New Guinea" in Travelwise, the Journal of the British Global and Travel Health Association at https://bgtha.us10.list-manage.com/track/click?u=0ffbace66780ad84a6f6d030d&id=519ff2971e&e=cb8cf5996em