Meet the team: Jill McGivering

I've been at the BBC for almost 20 years, mostly reporting from the field. I was the Hong Kong Correspondent just after its handover to China (a return to old stomping grounds for me: I started in journalism at the South China Morning Post there.)

I've also been based in Delhi as the BBC's South Asia Correspondent and at the State Department in Washington, travelling around in the press corps with then Secretary of State Colin Powell.

Since 2005, I've been based in London but still focused on Asia and reporting there on assignment as much as possible.

Jill spent much time in Helmand Province, Afghanistan

My adventures include coming under fire in Afghanistan and Pakistan, covering floods, droughts, earthquakes and nuclear accidents - and a stint living with Maoist guerrillas in the Indian jungle. My current BBC job is as South Asia Editor at the World Service.

I'd been told the WHYS team was a friendly, welcoming lot - and, so far, I can confirm it's all true.

As for my non-BBC life, I write fiction whenever I can. My first novel, The Last Kestrel, came out in August 2010 and is set in Afghanistan. My second, Far From My Father's House, is out in August 2011, based in North-West Pakistan - and I'm now on the third, set in India.