Mikal Hem has worked as a journalist and political commentator for the Norwegian newspapers Dagbladet and Verdens Gang, as well as the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation and the weekly news magazine Ny Tid. He has traveled extensively around the world and spent a good deal of time in Africa and the countries of the former Soviet Union. For a period of his childhood, he lived with his family in Zimbabwe, under the dictatorship of Robert Mugabe.
His first book is called “Kanskje jeg kan bli diktator” (“Perhaps I can be dictator”), and is a satirical career guide for aspiring autocrats. It was published in Norwegian in 2012, and has been translated to Danish, Tyrkish, Hungarian, German and Serbian. An English edition will be published soon. He is also the author of „How to Be a Dictator: An Irreverent Guide”.