About/Biographie

“Exuberant Writing” – TIME MAGAZINE

Tom Vater is a best-selling writer and editor working predominantly in Asia.

Tom has published six novels. The Devil’s Road to Kathmandu, currently available in English and Spanish. The Cambodian Book of the Dead, released by Crime Wave Press in Asia and world wide in July 2013 by Exhibit A,  The Man with the Golden Mind, also published with Exhibit A in March 2014 and subsequently republished by Crime Wave Press, and The Monsoon Ghost Image, published by Crime Wave Press in 2018, form his Detective Maier trilogy. His most recent eco thriller, The Green Panthers, is out with Next Chapter.

He is the co-owner of Crime Wave Press, a Hong Kong based English language crime fiction imprint.

Tom has published more than twenty non-fiction books, including the highly acclaimed Sacred Skin with photographer Aroon Thaewchatturat and the more recent Burmese Light with photographer Hans Kemp. In 2014, he published Cambodia: Journey through the Land of the Khmer with long time Lonely Planet photographer Kraig Lieb which became Cambodia’s bestselling illustrated book in 2018. An updated second edition is out now.

Tom is the co-author of several documentary screenplays, most notably The Most Secret Place on Earth, a feature on the CIA’s covert war in 1960s Laos.

Tom has published numerous guides to Thailand and Cambodia for Reise Know How and for Moon Books, and he is a Daily Telegraph destination expert. Tom’s work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Times, The Guardian,  Marie Claire, Geographical and many other publications.

Tom also works as a consultant for investors, NGOs and other organizations who are looking for expertise on the political, cultural and social landscape, political economies, policy issues and challenges, social issues, political dynamics and Tom’s unique perspectives based on his on-the-ground experience of Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar and Nepal. Clients include UNDP, Global Frontiers Inc., Fauna and Flora International (FFI), the EU, US AID, The NGO Forum on Cambodia, The Australian Government and the East West Management Institute.

In his spare time, Tom travels and plays RocknRoll music.

Tom is represented by the London based literary agency Marjacq.

Read Questions And Answers with Tom Vater at Col’s Criminal Library

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Tom Vater studierte Englische Literatur und Verlagswesen in Oxford und lebt seit zwanzig Jahren in Bangkok.

Er arbeitet als freischaffender Schriftsteller in Asien, vor allem in Thailand, Laos, Kambodscha, Indien und Nepal, und ist der Autor zahlreicher Titel für den Reise Know How Verlag

Mit dem Fototgrafen Hans Kemp ist er zudem der Besitzer von Crime Wave Press, einem Verlag der Krimis mit aisatischen Themen produziert. 2018 hat er mit Crime Wave Press seinen vierten Roman veröffentlicht The Monsoon Ghost Image .

Tom ist der Bangkok-Experte für den Daily Telegraph und Autor einer Reihe von Büchern über Asien/asiatische Thematiken geschrieben, unter anderem den Bestseller Sacred Skin, das erste Buch über Thailands heilige Tätowierungen, dass er mit der Fotografin Aroon Thaewchatturat verfasst hat und das mehr als 30 positive Rezensionen (unter anderem in Die Zeit, TIME, The Wall Street Journal) bekommen hat.

Tom hat Dokumentarfilmdrehbücher für Fernsehen und Kino verfasst, z. B für den Film The Most Secret Place on Earth (NDR/WDR/Discovery), der in 30 Ländern gezeigt wurde.

Zudem hat er eine Reihe Reiseführer über Kambodscha, Angkor Wat und Thailand geschrieben, für Rough Guides, Reise Know How und Moon Guides.

Toms Arbeit is in zahlreichen Publikationen erschienen, darunter The Daily Telegraph, The Asia Wall Street Journal, The Times, The Guardian, Marie-Claire, Courier International, Abenteuer und Reisen, MERIAN und Ecoute.

Zu besonderen Interessen zählen Tourismus und Architektur, Umwelt, Geschichte, sowie Minderheiten und Jugendkultur in Asien.

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