‘I’m driven by my deep awe of Planet Earth’s shimmering complexity’
In 2023, I mark 23 years as an award-winning storyteller and science journalist.
I investigate polar politics for Daily Maverick, joint winner of the Global Shining Light Award with 2021 Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Ressa — the world’s top investigative journalism prize.
Based in the Antarctic gateway city of Cape Town, my specialist reporting experience bridges both the Antarctic and Arctic. Highlights include:
- Exposing Russia’s two-decade record of looking for Antarctic fossil fuels.
- Becoming South Africa’s first female reporter to oversummer in Antarctica.
- Revealing the moment Russian LNG vessels crossed paths on the Arctic’s Northern Sea Route for the first time in winter without icebreakers.
Most recently, my Antarctic investigations were published by PBS and Daily Maverick. Other work includes reporting from the sub-Antarctic, and breaking global news on potential links between pangolins and coronavirus. The New York Times reports on my investigation here.
I often appear as media commentator, and also have deep experience as book author/editor.
A 2022 webinar with Mikaa Mered, French geopolitician and author of Les Mondes Polaires, and leading rights-of-nature lawyer Cormac Cullinan.
Editorial clients: Daily Maverick, Africa Geographic, Business Day, Business Times, Covering Climate Now, Daily Dispatch, Engineering News, Getaway, Go/Weg, House and Leisure, Khuluma, PBS, American Polar Society, Sawubona, Sunday Times, Sunday Times Food, Sunday Times Lifestyle, Sunday Times Money, Sunday Times Travel, The Times, Travel Africa, Weekend Argus, Woolworths Taste.
Broadcasting/webinar clients: Daily Maverick, 50/50 nature TV, DStv, EnviroWorld Radio, Go Trolley Films, Nat Geo Wild, SABC, TransWorld Radio, Wild Earth.
Book clients: Bloomsbury, Future, HPH, Human & Rousseau, Lonely Planet, Macmillan Trade, NB, Tafelberg.
Corporate/NGO clients: Endangered Wildlife Trust, Epic Communications, Fairtrade, International Rugby Board, Make an Immediate Difference, Mala Mala/Mashatu private reserves, MediFin, Nature, Siyabona Africa Travel, Wilderness Safaris.
Happy clients say:
She deserves her tiara.
– Branko Brkić, editor-in-chief, Daily Maverick
I was often asked how I could allow someone else to work with the extremely sensitive content of my son’s death from a brain tumour – but Tiara’s professional editing skills paid attention to the smallest detail. I was greatly reassured by the incredible amount of time, and emotional energy, she gave to the accurate telling of my story, The Twinkling of an Eye.
– Sue Brown, author
Beautifully told. A sense of true aestheticism. I felt understood in my own grief.
– Karina Szczurek, widow of novelist André P. Brink
Author (The Fifth Mrs Brink) on The Twinkling of an Eye
My undying gratitude to Tiara who edited the final version of my memoir, Queen of the Free State, for her warmth, understanding, meticulous eye, and intuitive and sensitive suggestions.
– Jennifer Friedman, author
A gifted interviewer and lively, exuberant storyteller.
– Carlos Amato, political cartoonist
Want a good all-rounder who’s fun to work with? Tiara’s the one.
– Don Pinnock, author/former editor of Getaway Magazine
I have always been impressed by Tiara’s dedication to her work. She pays attention to detail, and has an excellent command of the English language. Tiara is a first-class copy editor.
– Patrick Bulger, chief subeditor, Sunday Times
She understands what a sentence needs to do and be to achieve a kind of perfection.
– Sean O’Toole, journalist, author, art critic
Tiara has worked under considerable pressure at times, but she has always managed to keep her sense of humour.
– Susan Smuts, legal editor, Sunday Times
Banner image: Daniel Rutland Manners
TIARA WALTERS 