Phil Murphy

Phil is a former political journalist who was driven to write his two novels, 'Goran's Dilemma' and 'The Pavelic Trap' by the experience of visiting Sarajevo in 1996 following the near four-year siege of that multi-ethnic, multi-cultural city. Hailing from Newcastle-on-Tyne, he covered British politics from the early Thatcher era to the start of the Blair Government, becoming Political Editor of the UK's principal news agency, The Press Association. He then worked in politics as a special advisor to Tony Blair in 10 Downing Street before a career in international government relations - but the conflicts that led to the fall of Yugoslavia between 1991 and 1995 haunted him and he felt compelled to research and explain what happened. His aim is to ensure these do not become Europe's "forgotten wars" and that no-one ever forgets the inertia of the West, which meant that tens of thousands of innocent people died unnecessarily.