Imran Garda is a South African of Indian descent journalist, presenter, and award-winning novelist. He was the host of on TRT World. He was formerly the host of on Al Jazeera America based in New York City. Garda was also a senior presenter and producer for AJ+, Al Jazeera Media Network's all digital video news channel based in San Francisco. Previously, he worked for Al Jazeera English in , Qatar and , DC. He also hosted the award-winning show The Stream.
Early career
Garda's media career began as a sports presenter and reporter for SuperSport in South Africa in 2002. He covered mostly cricket and football. While at Supersport he was published as a freelance writer on politics—which included a series on Bosnia-Herzegovina ten years after the Yugoslav Wars ended.
With Al Jazeera
Garda worked in two different stints at Al Jazeera.
First stint
Garda joined Al Jazeera English in 2006 initially as a sports presenter, but was moved to news during the piloting phase. He anchored the news and Inside Story from Doha, Kuala Lumpur and Washington DC. He also hosted the award-winning The Stream until he left the network in 2012. He reported from the US, Sudan, Turkey, Egypt, Namibia, Bahrain, Lesotho, India, South Africa and the Hajj in Saudi Arabia. Garda hosted a 13-part series on the aftermath of the War in Gaza - and presented the long-form documentaries The Father of the Turks, A Voyage of Life and Death and India's Silent War. He also contributed feature articles and blog posts to Aljazeera.com and The Huffington Post. On 7 June 2012, Al Jazeera English announced that Garda would be returning to South Africa.
Second stint
In 2013, Garda returned to the network for the network's digital channel AJ+ based in San Francisco, California where he specialized in short documentaries, including a on Black Lives Matter protesters in Ferguson, Missouri. Beginning in 2015, Garda also anchored the news at Al Jazeera America in New York City. On April 16, 2015 it was announced that Garda would host a show on Al Jazeera America called Third Rail, an hour-long, guest-driven debate program focused on under-reported stories and hot-button topics.
TRT World
In October 2015, Garda joined TRT World, Turkish Radio and Television Corporation's English-language channel as host of , an interview and debate program with "in-depth reports and strong, unfiltered debates - examining the people and the stories that are shaping our lives." In April 2016 Garda and his colleague Jerome Evans were given rare access to make a documentary in North Korea during the Pyongyang Marathon. Garda documented the challenges of doing journalism in the country. The Newsmakers also did a special show from London on the occasion of the historic Brexit referendum.
Novel: ''The Thunder That Roars''
In June 2014 Umuzi, an imprint of Penguin Random House published Garda's debut novel The Thunder That Roars. The book was awarded the 2015 Olive Schreiner Prize for prose and optioned for a feature film. A tale of a journalist who embarks on a journey to find a missing family friend and uncovers long-held family secrets and undergoes an inward journey of his own, the book was described by adjudicators as, "South African literature soars above the tortuous apartheid history and redefines globalisation." Reviewer Eric Garland called it, " breathtakingly strong debut novel about the self-discovery and strained relationships of human beings in an era that defies understanding." It was also long-listed for The Etisalat Prize for Literature.
