Lipika Pelham is a historian, journalist, filmmaker and the author of “Passing: An Alternative History of Identity” (2021), “Jerusalem on the Amstel: The Quest for Zion in the Dutch Republic” (2019), “Conversations Across Place” (2021), and “The Unlikely Settler” (2014).
Lipika is a postgraduate researcher at The University of Westminster, London, completing a commentary on her book, “Jerusalem on the Amstel: The Quest for Zion in the Dutch Republic”, for a History PhD by Published Work. As a public speaker, Lipika has given talks at Jewish Book Week, Jewish History Channel, Chalke Valley History Festival, Spiro Ark, among other literary and Jewish cultural platforms.
She works as a producer/reporter/regional editor in the BBC World Service Newsroom, frequently appearing on air commenting on Arab-Israeli affairs. She also makes long-form documentaries for the BBC.
In the late 1990s and 2000s, Lipika reported for the BBC from the Middle East, North Africa, Asia and made several award-winning documentary films, including “Deadly Honour”, about honour killing in Israel, where Lipika spent eight years from 2005-2013.
Her essays and reports have appeared in The New York Times, BBC Online, The Guardian, Daily Beast, Tikkun magazine, Haaretz, The Times of Israel.