Gregory Warner
Gregory Warner is the host of NPR's Rough Translation, a podcast about how things we're talking about in the United States are being talked about in some other part of the world. Whether interviewing a Ukrainian debunker of Russian fake news, a Japanese apology broker navigating different cultural meanings of the word "sorry," or a German dating coach helping a Syrian refugee find love, Warner's storytelling approach takes us out of our echo chambers and leads us to question the way we talk about the world. Rough Translation has received the Lowell Thomas Award from the Overseas Press Club and a Scripps Howard Award.
In his role as host, Warner draws on his own overseas experience. As NPR's East Africa correspondent, he covered the diverse issues and voices of a region that experienced unparalleled economic growth as well as a rising threat of global terrorism. Before joining NPR, he reported from conflict zones around the world as a freelancer. He climbed mountains with smugglers in Pakistan for This American Life, descended into illegal mineshafts in the Democratic Republic of Congo for Marketplace's "Working" series, and lugged his accordion across Afghanistan on the trail of the "Afghan Elvis" for Radiolab.
Warner has also worked as senior reporter for American Public Media's Marketplace, endeavoring to explain the economics of American health care. He's used puppets to illustrate the effects of Internet diagnostics on the doctor-patient relationship, and composed a Suessian poem to explain the correlation between health care job growth and national debt. His musical journey into the shadow world of medical coding won a Best News Feature award from the Third Coast International Audio Festival.
Warner has won a Peabody Award and awards from Edward R. Murrow, New York Festivals, AP, and PRNDI. He earned his degree in English from Yale University.
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A Kenyan intelligence official says that the "high-value terrorist leader" whose residence was targeted in a Navy SEAL raid was the senior al-Shabab leader Abdikadir Mohamed Abdikadir, alias Ikrima. Ikrima is a Kenyan of Somali descent who boasts connections to both al-Shabab in Somalia and to a Kenyan jihadist group called al-Hijra.
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The allegations have shaken people in Nairobi, who just a week ago were hailing the soldiers as heroes after Islamic militants stormed an upscale mall and killed dozens. President Uhuru Kenyatta has vowed to set up a commission to look into lapses in intelligence and security, and to investigate the accusations. -
Kenya's interior minister said those who attacked the Nairobi mall were an international group of men, some of whom dressed as women. Kenya's foreign minister said the group included at least three Americans and one woman. Four days after the attack started, we update what is known about the group of terrorists who have held siege at the popular Westgate Mall.
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The gelada, found in Ethiopia, makes a gurgling noise that scientists say is close to human speech — at least in how much facial coordination it requires. One theory scientists are trying to test is if the monkey's vocal agility came from its tendency to hang with other geladas in large groups. -
Jan Scannell is a 32-year-old former accountant with a dream: to establish a national holiday in South Africa like July 4 called Braai Day. Braai is a South African barbecue of meat or vegetables over wood embers. -
Some of the worst-paid farmers in Ethiopia were able to get their bean to the specialty coffee ball and sell to top U.S. roasters like Stumptown. But it only happened after the growers got organized and attracted the attention of coffee prospectors from the U.S. -
Former journalist Richard Crompton set his first novel, a crime thriller, in a city that many still know as "Nairobbery." His protagonist, Detective Mollel, is a warrior for justice in a city that would happily settle for peace.
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A billion people worldwide live in slums, largely invisible to city services and governments — but not to satellites. A global movement is putting mapping technology in the hands of slum dwellers to persuade governments and the residents themselves to see these shadow cities in a whole new light. NPR's Gregory Warner visits one slum in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. -
The historic apology — and the unprecedented settlement — has been years in the making. A Harvard graduate student helped bring about the settlement for the surviving Mau Mau victims of torture and abuse at the hands of the British. -
Journalism can be a dangerous profession in any war-torn country. And in Somalia, the youth and inexperience of many reporters can make it even more so. A dozen Somali reporters were gunned down last year, including four at a single organization, Shabelle Media.
