Roger Thurow

Roger Thurow, author of the new book  The Last Hunger Season: A Year in an African Farm Community on the Brink of Change, is senior fellow for global agriculture and food policy at T he Chicago Council on Global Affairs. On May 18, the eve of the G8 Summit, The Chicago Council will bring together senior global leaders to discuss new international efforts on food security. President Obama is the  keynote speaker.

Thurow joined the Council in January 2010 after three decades at the Wall Street Journal. For 20 years, he was a foreign correspondent based in Europe and Africa. His coverage of global affairs spanned the Cold War, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the release of Nelson Mandela, the end of apartheid, 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. 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.

Roger Thurow graduated from the University of Iowa. He lives in the Chicago area with his wife Anne, and their two children, Brian and Aishling.