Brett Shapiro

Brett Shapiro is a writer and journalist. For the past 20 years, he has written and edited technical, policy, strategy, advocacy and general audience publications for more than a dozen United Nations agencies. His United Nations work also includes two full-length books: "Nourishing the Land, Nourishing the People: The Upper Mandrare Basin Development Project in Madagascar”  and "From Food Crisis to Food Security: One Programme in Madagascar makes a difference”. He is currently at work on a third book for the United Nations, entitled A New Lease on Life: Regenerating forests and livelihoods in Nepal. He also provides specialized training in writing to United Nations staff at the United Nations System Staff College in Turin, in headquarters offices and in the field, as well as to diplomats at the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In addition, he is a visiting professor at the Università di Siena.

Outside of the United Nations System and his development work, Mr. Shapiro is the author of the best-selling "L'Intruso”, a memoir published in Italy (Feltrinelli) and subsequently a film and theatrical production. He collaborated with the conductor Robert Craft on a biography of Igor Stravinsky entitled "Dearest Bubushkin”, published in the United Kingdom (Thames and Hudson). He has also written two children's books, "The Adventures of Bailey the Bag Dog” (1998), winner of Austria's National Book Award and published in France, Germany, Austria and South Korea, and "Bailey Strikes It Rich”. His essays and articles have appeared in magazines and newspapers in Italy and the United States, and he has made many guest appearances on Italian television.