Lost Horizons - A foreign correspondent’s extraordinary life story

This is the remarkable life story Denis D. Gray, born Zdenek Mecir in communist Czechoslovakia, who went on to a celebrated career as a foreign correspondent for Associated Press, most of it based in Bangkok as The Associated Press bureau chief.

From the front lines of the Vietnam War and the ‘killing fields’ of Cambodia to foxholes in Iraq and Afghanistan, Gray chronicles eight decades of upheaval and resilience in this highly personal memoir. He reflects on a world of relentless change and fleeting beauty, torn between the urge to seek a quiet refuge – a “lost horizon” of peace – and the irresistible pull of life on the edge.  

“In Lost Horizons, I try to make sense of it all as best I can,” Gray writes. I tell my story and those of others – not only people, but cities, countries and conflicts – through imperfect eyes. I chose not to present these accounts as a strictly chronological narrative but by subject and theme. In doing so, I hope to have captured the unique period in history during which I lived, loved and lost.”

Denis D. Gray was born in war-torn Pilsen, Czechoslovakia, and fled with his family after the communist takeover. He later studied at Yale and served as a US Army officer in Japan and Vietnam – experiences that sparked his lifelong bond with Asia. In 1972 he joined the Associated Press, beginning a 40-year career reporting from Asia, the Middle East and Africa on wars, political upheavals and environmental disasters.

From the battlefields of Cambodia to the streets of Baghdad, his work has appeared in leading newspapers  and magazines worldwide. He is a past president of the FCCT and co-president of the Indochina Media Memorial Fund (IMMF) and now lives in retirement in northern Thailand, where he continues to write.

Moderator: Dominic Faulder, FCCT board member and Nikkei Asia associate editor.

Hardcover copies of Gray's memoirs will be available on the night.

Members who wish to book in advance should email info@fccthai.com or call the FCCT office on 02-652-0580.

Non-members can use this link.