While working on his first novel, "The Palace of Fears", he worked as a television producer at the BBC, and then the CBC and Citytv in Toronto, and was one of the original cohosts of TVOntario's literature talk series "Imprint". He covered both the 1991 and 2003 Iraq wars for "Harper's", winning numerous awards and accolades, including the 2005 inaugural PEN 'Paul Kidd Award for Courage in Journalism'.