Tom Vater

Tom Vater is a German-born journalist, documentary screenwriter, and nonfiction author who has been based in South and Southeast Asia since 1993. Over a career spanning thirty years, he has reported from across the region for a roster of international publications, including The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, The Times, The Economist, Nikkei Asia, The Daily Telegraph, and the South China Morning Post. While Vater is also the author of several acclaimed crime novels set in Asia — in 2022, he sold the film rights to his debut novel, The Devil's Road to Kathmandu — his primary focus has always been journalism and narrative nonfiction. He is the co-author of the bestselling Sacred Skin, a landmark photographic study of Thailand's sacred yantra tattoos and the Buddhist monks who practice this ancient art. He has written several travel guidebooks on Cambodia and Thailand, and his feature journalism has taken him from the back alleys of Kolkata to the corridors of Asia's most celebrated luxury hotels, where he has profiled everything from century-old colonial grande dames to cutting-edge urban retreats. Vater's documentary screenwriting credits include The Most Secret Place on Earth, a feature film exposing the CIA's covert war in 1960s Laos. His long-form investigations have explored political shenanigans, environmental issues, contemporary art, and vanishing cultural traditions, always with an eye for the overlooked story. Whether filing from a huge metropolis or a quiet village, he brings a novelist's sense of character and a reporter's commitment to the facts. In his spare time, Vater plays guitar in bands and swims with sharks. Tom's latest book, SHARKMAN, is a true crime nonfiction about a kidnapping in West Africa and tiger sharks in Thailand. He lives happily in Bangkok.