Mary Louise Kelly
Mary Louise Kelly is a co-host of All Things Considered, NPR's award-winning afternoon newsmagazine.
Previously, she spent a decade as national security correspondent for NPR News, and she's kept that focus in her role as anchor. That's meant taking All Things Considered to Russia, North Korea, and beyond (including live coverage from Helsinki, for the infamous Trump-Putin summit). Her past reporting has tracked the CIA and other spy agencies, terrorism, wars, and rising nuclear powers. Kelly's assignments have found her deep in interviews at the Khyber Pass, at mosques in Hamburg, and in grimy Belfast bars.
Kelly first launched NPR's intelligence beat in 2004. After one particularly tough trip to Baghdad — so tough she wrote an essay about it for Newsweek — she decided to try trading the spy beat for spy fiction. Her debut espionage novel, Anonymous Sources, was published by Simon and Schuster in 2013. It's a tale of journalists, spies, and Pakistan's nuclear security. Her second novel, The Bullet, followed in 2015.
Kelly's writing has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Politico, Washingtonian, The Atlantic, and other publications. She has lectured at Harvard and Stanford, and taught a course on national security and journalism at Georgetown University. In addition to her NPR work, Kelly serves as a contributing editor at The Atlantic, moderating newsmaker interviews at forums from Aspen to Abu Dhabi.
A Georgia native, Kelly's first job was pounding the streets as a political reporter at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. In 1996, she made the leap to broadcasting, joining the team that launched BBC/Public Radio International's The World. The following year, Kelly moved to London to work as a producer for CNN and as a senior producer, host, and reporter for the BBC World Service.
Kelly graduated from Harvard University in 1993 with degrees in government, French language, and literature. Two years later, she completed a master's degree in European studies at Cambridge University in England.
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In the new book 2054, Admiral James Stavridis and Elliot Ackerman imagine how the singularity might threaten America and the world 30 years from now.
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Non-alcoholic spirit sales grew more than 100% in the last year. So for the annual All Things Considered holiday cocktail interview, we're visiting a completely alcohol-free bar in D.C.
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As the war between Hamas and Israel rages on, the diaspora is feeling the pain of discrimination. Advocacy groups in the U.S. report a spike in threats of harassment and violence.
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The union representing Hollywood writers has reached a tentative deal with the major studios, potentially ending a months-long strike. What does this mean for the industry, and still-striking actors?
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Journalist and writer Michele Norris is exploring the significance of the family kitchen in her new podcast, Your Mama's Kitchen.
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NPR's Mary Louise Kelly chats with journalist Michele Norris about her new podcast Your Mama's Kitchen.
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NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with author R.F. Kuang on her novel Yellowface and why she wanted to write a book about cultural appropriation in the publishing world.
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NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with author Ann Patchett on her latest novel Tom Lake, which tackles family, maternal love and the secrets a mother may choose not to share with her children.
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NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with poet Terrance Hayes about his new collection "So To Speak," which touches on topics from history, to himself and to headlines in the news.
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NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with executive director Patrick Weems on the announcement of the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument.