Jane Mayer

Journalist and author

Jane Mayer attended Fieldston and Yale Universities in the US, before continuing her studies at the University of Oxford. She began a career in journalism writing for regional newspapers in Vermont, then moved to the Washington Post in 1982, where she remained for 12 years. During this time she served as a foreign correspondent as well as becoming the paper's first female White House correspondent.

Since 1995, Mayer has been a staff writer at the New York Magazine. She is also the author of three non-fiction books, which are mostly the result of her investigative journalism, the most recent being The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How The War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals (2008). She was awarded the John Chancellor Award for Excellence in Journalism for her investigative work associated with this book.