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The absurdity and horror of three years as a hostage by Somali pirates is the theme of Michael Scott Moore’s latest book as well as his thoughtful, gripping talks. He’s an international speaker and bestselling author who can discuss mental resilience and the arts of inner strength.
A gang of pirates kidnapped Michael in 2012 during a reporting trip to Somalia. They held him in bush camps, prison houses, and for several months on a hijacked tuna longliner anchored off the Somali coast. He’s the only modern Western writer to experience life on a vessel captured by pirates, and he survived 977 days as a hostage — over two and a half years — with surprising reserves of Stoic detachment, which helped him find strength in rotten circumstances.
Choose Your Misery: Inner Freedom as a Hostage, his signature talk, will teach audiences to adopt a liberating mindset and overcome what seem to be hopeless obstacles. Michael discusses the value of Stoicism, mindfulness, and even yoga to rise above cycles of hope and despair.
Make Yourself Small, a security-related lecture, deals with powerful self-discipline. One goal of hostage-takers is to destroy a captive’s sense of humanity and self-respect, and in this talk Michael discusses ways to survive and resist — when to make yourself small, and when not to.Somali Pirates Gave Me Toothpaste and Soap: In this timely lecture, based on a tweet that quickly went viral, Michael discusses human trafficking and smuggling to developed countries, as well as the responses that lead to humanitarian nightmares on the US-Mexican border and Mediterranean Sea. Hostage-taking is a form of human traffic, Michael argues, and pirates and traffickers have always done business together.
He can give more topical lectures on the roots of modern piracy, Islam and hostage-taking, suicide and mental health, “Stockholm Syndrome,” and the sanity of forgiveness. He’s been featured on CBS This Morning, the New York Times, Morning Joe, The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, The Colbert Report, BBC Outlook, Zeit Magazin (Germany), the Joe Rogan Experience, various NPR shows, and many other platforms and podcasts.
He's written about international politics, books, theater, and travel for The New Yorker, Der Spiegel, The Atlantic, Newlines Magazine, The Paris Review, The L.A. Review of Books, The Guardian Long Read, The New York Times, The L.A. Times, The New Republic, Pacific Standard, Kelp Journal, Berlin-Bordercrossing, Slate, Politico, SF Weekly — and about the East African migrant trail to Europe for Bloomberg Businessweek.
His bestselling memoir, The Desert and the Sea, has been lauded as “not only the definitive book on Somali pirates, but a remarkable work of literature, too.” He’s a skilled and witty storyteller who sets people at ease he with his native sense of humor, and he can guide an audience through dark emotional turmoil to the cognitive realignments needed to transcend the role of a victim.
Michael can lecture in English or German. He’s represented by the Lucinda Literary Speakers Bureau and travels from Los Angeles, California.
testimonials
Mike exudes the calm demeanor of a man who has been through so much; a man who was broken into pieces, and who found a beautiful, spiritual way to pick up those pieces and become whole again.
His riveting talk moved and inspired the entire audience with his message of forgiveness and the indomitable power of the human spirit.
Michael was extremely forthcoming, articulate, self-deprecating and unabashedly honest. He was a delight to work with, and I doubt that many in the audience will forget that evening — or Michael — for a long time to come.
His visit to the Sorbonne was one of the highlights of the semester. The students were inspired and moved by his honesty and courage, and his talk prompted many interesting discussions, both during his visit and throughout the course.
Hearing him talk was like listening to a short story unfold.
Michael is represented by the Lucinda Literary Speakers Bureau
UPCOMING READINGS & EVENTS
clients & platforms:
An eye-opening experience for West Point cadets ... The Combating Terrorism Center at West Point is incredibly appreciative to Mr. Moore, who was a pleasure to host, for his willingness to share his important insights with the future leaders of the U.S. military.