Mellissa Fung is a veteran journalist, author, and filmmaker. She has produced original documentaries for Al-Jazeera International, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), and TV Ontario, among others.  She covered the war in Afghanistan as a correspondent for the CBC, leading to her best-selling first book, which chronicled her experience as a hostage after she was kidnapped while on assignment in Kabul in 2008. Since then, Fung has focused on human rights reporting, particularly on challenges for women and children in post-conflict countries. She is a frequent contributor to Monocle Radio and The Globe and Mail, and her work has also appeared in The Toronto Star and on TRT, CNN, and PBS.  She’s been awarded at the New York Festivals, the Gracie Awards, and the Banff World Media Festival, among others. Fung holds a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University in New York. She was appointed as an officer to the Order of Canada in 2024. After many years abroad, she recently returned to Toronto with her husband Paul and her scruffy rescue-turned-assistance dog, Sammy.