Roger Thurow is a journalist and author who writes about the persistence of hunger and malnutrition in our world, as well as global agriculture and food policy. He was a reporter at The Wall Street Journal for thirty years, including twenty years as a foreign correspondent based in Europe and Africa. His coverage of global affairs spanned the final decade of the Cold War, the fall of communism in Eastern Europe and the reunification of Germany, the release of Nelson Mandela and the end of apartheid in South Africa, the wars in the former Yugoslavia, and the humanitarian crises of the first decade of this century – along with 10 Olympic Games.
In 2003, he and Journal colleague Scott Kilman wrote a series of stories on famine in Africa that was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in International Reporting. The series, Anatomy of Famine, was praised by the Pulitzer board for “haunting stories that shed new light on starvation in Africa and prompted international agencies to rethink their policies.” Their reporting on humanitarian and development issues was also honored by the United Nations. Thurow and Kilman are authors of the book, ENOUGH: Why the World’s Poorest Starve in an Age of Plenty. In 2009, they were awarded Action Against Hunger’s Humanitarian Award. They also received the 2009 Harry Chapin WhyHunger book award. Enough was also a finalist for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize and for the New York Public Library Helen Bernstein Book Award.
In May 2012, Thurow published his second book, The Last Hunger Season: A Year in an African Farm Community on the Brink of Change. His third book, The First 1,000 Days: A Crucial Time for Mothers and Children – And the World, was published in May 2016.
Thurow’s most recent book, published in August 2024, is Against The Grain – How Farmers Around the Globe Are Transforming Agriculture to Nourish the World and Heal the Planet.
Roger Thurow has also been a senior fellow for Global Agriculture and Food Policy at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, as well as a Scholar-in-Residence at Auburn University’s Hunger Solutions Institute.
