Michael Scott Moore

International Bestselling Author of The Desert and the Sea (HarperCollins)

Michael Scott Moore is an award-winning journalist and author whose harrowing experience as a hostage has made him a leading voice on the complexities of modern piracy and resilience. In 2012, while researching a book on Somali piracy, Michael was kidnapped and held captive for 977 days. He chronicled this ordeal in his New York Times bestselling memoir, The Desert and the Sea: 977 Days Captive on the Somali Pirate Coast (2017).

His work has been recognized with prestigious grants from the Pulitzer Center, the Logan Nonfiction Program, and the Fulbright Program, as well as a MacDowell Colony fellowship. A dual citizen of the United States and Germany, Michael is a versatile writer who has covered the European migration crisis, politics, and travel for top-tier publications including The Atlantic, The New York Times, Businessweek, and Der Spiegel.

Michael has shared his insights on major platforms such as The Daily Show, The Joe Rogan Experience, and NPR’s Fresh Air. Known for his ability to lecture in both English and German, he provides a unique international perspective on the intersection of maritime law, geopolitical instability, and the psychological impact of captivity.

Books

Praise for The Desert and the Sea

International Bestseller

“A harrowing and affecting account of two and a half years of captivity at the hands of Somali pirates. A deftly constructed and tautly told rejoinder to Robert Louis Stevenson’s Kidnapped, sympathetic but also sharp-edged.”

“Highly addictive reading material….Michael Scott Moore delivers an amazing true-life thriller, one of the most suspenseful books written in recent years, that tracks across oceans and underworlds, culminating in a very rewarding, deeply profound end.”

“Moore’s elegant, 450-page account of his life in Somalia’s hostage machine conveys suffering on an epic scale, a hotter, dustier version, perhaps, of One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich.”