Alex Duval Smith, the Guardian's former Africa correspondent and a freelance journalist across west Africa, has died aged 55. She died in Paris on Saturday after a sudden and severe pulmonary infection, while undergoing treatment for lung cancer diagnosed in August last year.
Tributes have been paid by colleagues. Simon Tisdall, a former Guardian foreign editor, described her as “hugely energetic, endlessly curious, generous, versatile, good-humoured, and could write from anywhere.” Paul Webster, editor of the Observer, called her “a great reporter” who would “appear in the most unexpected places, completely calm in the midst of unimaginable mayhem, and file beautiful, fluent prose.”
Born in London on 28 October 1964, Duval Smith was the daughter of journalist Peter Duval Smith and actor Daphne Jonason. She moved to Sweden at age seven and attended the French Lycée in Stockholm. She returned to London in the early 1980s and began working subediting shifts at the Guardian in the mid-1980s, later becoming an assistant foreign desk editor.
In 1995, she covered for the Paris bureau chief and stayed for nearly three years. She was appointed the Guardian's staff Africa correspondent in 1998, based in Johannesburg, covering conflicts across southern Africa. After leaving her staff position, she freelanced for British and French media, including the Guardian, the Independent, RFI, France 24 and the BBC, based in Cape Town, Mali, Ivory Coast and Senegal.
Lyse Doucet, the BBC's chief international correspondent, said Duval Smith was “a force of nature, so committed to journalism, so much in love with so much in west Africa.” Karen Allen, the BBC's former Africa correspondent, called her “our comrade and sister in arms … a kind, understated and totally committed journalist.”
Duval Smith is survived by two half-sisters and a half-brother. She was married to actor Simon Clark from 1986 to 1993; they remained close after divorce.
