Sally Hayden

Sally Hayden is an award-winning journalist and photographer focused on migration, human rights and humanitarian crises. She is the youngest ever winner of the Orwell Prize for Political Writing, for her book ‘My Fourth Time, We Drowned: Seeking Refuge on the World’s Deadliest Migration Route’. Currently the Africa correspondent for the Irish Times, Sally has also worked with VICE News, CNN International, the Financial Times, TIME, BBC, the Washington Post, the Guardian, the New York Times, Channel 4 News, Foreign Policy, Al Jazeera and Newsweek, among others.

Sally has reported from countries including Nigeria, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Burkina Faso, Lebanon, Jordan, the DR Congo, the Gambia, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, Somalia and Uganda. Her writing has been translated into nine languages. She has twice sat on the committee deciding the winner of the International Anti-Corruption Award. In 2019, she was included on the Forbes ’30 Under 30′ list of media in Europe.

In August 2018, journalist, photographer and Irish Times African correspondent Sally Hayden received a Facebook message that set off a chain of events nobody could have predicted. “Hi sister Sally, we need your help,” the message read. “We are under bad condition in Libya prison. If you have time, I will tell you all the story.” What followed was message after message from African migrants sharing stories of enslavement and trafficking, torture and murder, tuberculosis and sexual abuse.

But, as Sally started to investigate, she soon realised that the stories themselves were hiding something much more sinister – the real story of the current migrant crisis. And what follows is a story about corruption within the United Nations, shocking negligence among African NGOs and the impact the EU’s bankrolling of Libyan militias has had on Africa. 

Winner of The Orwell Prize for Political Writing 2022 and of The Michel Déon Prize 2022

My Fourth Time, We Drowned sheds new light on the practicalities of the 21st century slave trade, including where the funding comes from, the role social media plays and the loop holes refuges and aid workers know how to manipulate. It also asks the biggest question of all – why does the Western world continue to look away?  

At its heart, this is a book about people who have made unimaginable choices, risking everything to survive in a system that wants them to be silent and disappear.

Ruth Ní Fhionnáin is a solicitor practising in the area of child protection law.