Leigh Sales

Leigh Sales is an award winning journalist and author.  She anchors Lateline on ABC1 on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights.  She has held a number of senior reporting roles at the network, including National Security Correspondent and NSW Political Reporter.  From 2001 to 2006, she was based in Washington DC as North America Correspondent, covering major stories including the aftermath of September 11, the Iraq War and the 2004 Presidential election.  In 2005, Leigh won a Walkley Award, Australia’s most prestigious journalism prize, for her radio reporting on Guantanamo Bay.  She was nominated again in 2006 for her coverage of Hurricane Katrina.

She is the author of two books.  Her first, Detainee 002: the Case of David Hicks, was published to widespread critical acclaim in 2007.  It won the George Munster Award for Independent Journalism and was shortlisted for the Victorian Premier’s Literary Prize and the Walkley Non Fiction Book Award.  Her second book, On Doubt, was published in May 2009 as part of Melbourne University Publishing’s series Little Books on Big Themes.

Leigh’s writing has also appeared in The Australian, The Monthly, The Bulletin, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, and The Diplomat.