Anke Richter

Anke Richter (born 1964) is a German journalist and author based in Lyttelton, near Christchurch, New Zealand. Her work has included foreign correspondence and investigative reporting. Since the 2010s her particular focus has been on cults, coercive control and high-control groups. Her books include Cult Trip: Inside the World of Coercion & Control, and she organised the first Decult Conference in Christchurch in 2024.

Career In the late 1990s Richter worked as a freelance journalist in Kiel, Germany. She had previously undertaken journalistic training at a correspondent's office in Los Angeles and wrote for the German women's magazine Allegra. Her first book, Aussteigen auf Zeit: Das Sabbatical-Handbuch, was published by vgs in 1999.

Richter moved to New Zealand in 2003 and subsequently worked as a freelance journalist and foreign correspondent. Her book Was scheren mich die Schafe: Unter Neuseeländern. Eine Verwandlung was published by Kiepenheuer & Witsch in 2011. The book dealt with her experiences of migration and adapting to life in New Zealand.

As a correspondent, Richter has reported for German-language publications including Die Zeit, Der Spiegel and the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Her reporting has included New Zealand current affairs and investigations into yoga, tantra and spiritual communities.

The book was reviewed by publications including Newtown Review of Books and Newsroom. In 2023, Austrian newspaper Der Standard interviewed Richter about the book and her reporting on coercive groups.

In 2025, Richter, Sarah Steel and Summer Cooke were co-recipients of the Ethical Media Award in the Freedom Express Awards.