Beirut-based award-winning journalist Rania Abouzeid has covered the Middle East and South Asia for well over fifteen years. She has covered events in Syria, from inside Syria, since 2011, despite being banned from entering the country and placed on the “wanted lists” of several intelligence directorates in Damascus.

Her first book, No Turning Back, recently listed by The New York Times as a Notable Book of 2018 and by the Financial Times as one of the Best Books of 2018, explains the tragedy of Syria’s war through the “dramatic stories of four young people seeking safety and freedom.” Listen as Abouzeid shares her ground-level take on a region roiled by the aftermath of the Arab uprisings and the rise and fall—but not disappearance—of the Islamic State group.