Roger Thurow joined the Chicago Council on Global Affairs as a senior fellow on global food and agriculture after working three decades at The Wall Street Journal.
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.
Thurow’s book, The Last Hunger Season: A Year in an African Farm Community on the Brink of Change, was published in May 2012. Thurow’s latest book, The First 1,000 Days: A Crucial Time for Mothers and Children – published in 2016 tells the story of the vital importance of proper nutrition and health care in the 1,000 days window from the beginning of a woman’s pregnancy to her child’s second birthday.
Thurow is an expert on agricultural development and speaks often on high-visibility platforms related to nutrition, hunger, and agriculture in the United States, Europe, and Africa. In 2013, he spoke about the power smallholder farmers have in Africa at a TedxChange Seattle event hosted by Melinda Gates.
