Ryan Gosling Takes Photos for New Book, 'Congo Stories'

For their new book released this week, "CONGO STORIES", NY Times bestselling author John Prendergast, Congolese activist Fidel Bafilemba, and Ryan Gosling traveled to the Democratic Republic of Congo to document by turns shocking, enthralling, inspiring stories of individual heroism.

Through Bafilemba's profiles of heroic Congolese activists, Gosling's photographs of Congolese daily life, and Prendergast's narratives of the extraordinary history of exploitation and evolving social movements that directly link Congo with the United States and Europe, "Congo Stories" provides windows into the history, the people, the challenges, the possibilities, and the movements that are impacting the course of Congo's destiny. The book features a foreword by Soraya Aziz Souleymane, afterword by Chouchou Namegabe, postscript by Dave Eggers, and illustrations by Sam Ilus.

The authors are donating 100 percent of their proceeds to create a Congo Stories Upstander Fund, which will provide support to many of the Congolese heroes profiled in the book in their efforts to create a better future for Congo.

Special events featuring the authors will take place in San Francisco on December 7, Los Angeles on December 10, Washington, D.C. on December 13, and New York on December 14.

The authors profile Congolese heroes like 2018 Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Denis Mukwege, all of whom are battling against a tidal wave of corruption, violence, and exploitation on a scale with few parallels in the world.