Wherever and whenever you meet him he’ll have a camera slung round his neck. It’s his extra arm; the ubiquitous tool of his trade.
To call David Pratt a journalist would be to comprehensively undersell his myriad talents.
His four decades as a war correspondent have taken him to all of the world’s most troubled spots from Afghanistan and Iraq to Sudan and Syria, Cambodia and South Sudan.
And accompanying a vivid writing style which has brought him a clutch of national and international awards are his extraordinary images.
Earlier this month an exhibition of his photographic work, Only With the Heart, ran in a Glasgow gallery, and the best of these images will be centre stage this coming weekend as he opens the second day of the Cove and Kilcreggan Book Festival on Sunday morning.
Like so many talents in every field, David is a product of the Glasgow School of Art, but he has since fashioned a distinguished career reporting from many front lines, and marrying a deep understanding of the geopolitical issues to his startling photographs.
The broadcaster and author Stuart Cosgrove, whose event follows on David’s on Sunday when he talks about his Soul Trilogy to Janice Forsyth, is full of admiration for his colleague.
Says Stuart of the image of a shelf of prosthetic limbs in Kabul: “This is documentary observation at its very best: a raw, emotionally arresting account of the reality of war.”
And he adds: “Like the very best war photographers, David’s work is defiant and principled in its pursuit of human decency under duress.”
You will be able to judge for yourself on Sunday and also to meet David and acquire a copy of his exhibition catalogue which gives you a glimpse of his amazing work.
David will give an illustrated talk on all this at his 10.45am event, after which he will be in conversation with Rosemary Burnett, a former director of Amnesty International in Scotland.
Stuart and Janice’s event is at 12.15pm where he talks about his three companion books, Memphis, Harlem and Detroit which examine both the political and musical hinterland of these iconic cities and districts.
* Find out more about this year's festival, and book your tickets online, by clicking here.
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