Born in France in 1973, Flore de Préneuf has been writing and taking photographs since she was a child.

She grew up in France, South Korea, the United States and Great Britain. She has a degree in political science and economics from Sciences-Po, Paris (1992-1995), and a masters in Russian history and politics from Oxford University (1995-1997).

She has two children (Theo - 2001 and Alice - 2003) and lives in Palo Alto, California.

In 1997-1998, Flore de Préneuf was a stringer for the French daily Libération in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina.

From May 1998 to June 2002, she was based in Jerusalem with her husband Lee Hockstader, bureau chief for The Washington Post. There, she became Middle East correspondent for Salon.com. She also took photographs in Iran, Syria, Egypt, Morocco, Jordan and Lebanon.

Her stories and photographs have appeared in many publications including Libération, Le Figaro, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The International Herald Tribune, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The St Petersburg Times, The Financial Times and Cosmogirl (see Publications for sample clips).

In 2000, she was awarded first prize in the "Seeing the News" photo competition organized by Reuters and The Independent. This was the winning entry:

(click to enlarge)

Her photo essay "Seoul Memories" was the cover story of ReVue.com in October 2002.

Her photographs from the Middle-East were exhibited in "Balagan", a one-woman show at Pro-Jex gallery, in Austin, Texas, in March 2003.

In September 2003, she published her first book, "Chronique d'un dialogue de sourds" : a collection of short personal essays and 50 color and black-and-white street photographs, documenting four years in the Middle East (1998-2002).

The 170-page book, published by Labor et Fides (Geneva), is available in select bookstores in France, Switzerland, Belgium and Québec. It can also be purchased online on amazon.fr

She hopes to publish a book of color photographs - candid stills from Texas infused with movie references and latent religioisty.