On September 20, NYU Florence will host Imma Vitelli, an international correspondent with Vanity Fair Italy. She recently spent time in North Korea and will share her experiences. She will also host a journalism workshop on September 21-22 for NYU students. The workshop will consider questions such as: How do you report in a totalitarian state with three government minders, two “guides” and a photographer who takes photos of you taking photos of North Korea? How do you come up with a story in a country where you have no freedom at all? Ms. Vitelli will teach what to do, what to avoid and how to see what the state will rather hide.

“Last May, I spent ten days in North Korea, and it was by far the most bizarre experience I have ever had. The idea was to report on the elites supporting the paranoid regime of President Kim Jong-un. We saw champagne flowing in spite of sanctions and children singing the glory of the nuclear program. We dined on a yacht by the river in Pyongyang and felt like we were in a lost galaxy, or in East Berlin, in the 1960s.”

– Imma Vitelli