Joanna Kakissis
Joanna Kakissis is a foreign correspondent based in Kyiv, Ukraine, where she reports poignant stories of a conflict that has upended millions of lives, affected global energy and food supplies and pitted NATO against Russia.
Kakissis began reporting in Ukraine shortly before Russia invaded in February. She covered the exodus of refugees to Poland and has returned to Ukraine several times to chronicle the war. She has focused on the human costs, profiling the displaced, the families of prisoners of war and a ninety-year-old "mermaid" who swims in a mine-filled sea. Kakissis highlighted the tragedy for both sides with a story about the body of a Russian soldier abandoned in a hamlet he helped destroy, and she shed light on the potential for nuclear disaster with a report on the shelling of Nikopol by Russians occupying a nearby power plant.
Kakissis began reporting regularly for NPR from her base in Athens, Greece, in 2011. Her work has largely focused on the forces straining European unity — migration, nationalism and the rise of illiberalism in Hungary. She led coverage of the eurozone debt crisis and the mass migration of Syrian refugees to Europe. She's reported extensively in central and eastern Europe and has also filled in at NPR bureaus in Berlin, Istanbul, Jerusalem, London and Paris. She's a contributor to This American Life and has written for The New York Times, TIME, The New Yorker online and The Financial Times Magazine, among others. In 2021, she taught a journalism seminar as a visiting professor at Princeton University.
Kakissis was born in Greece, grew up in North and South Dakota and spent her early years in journalism at The News & Observer in Raleigh, North Carolina.
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Thousands of migrants are stuck in squalid camps in Greece, waiting for the government to process their asylum requests. Managing migration remains one of Europe's biggest challenges.
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Here's why Kosovo — land of Bill Clinton Boulevard, pets named Trump and a pantsuit boutique called Hillary — gives the United States its highest ratings. -
Alexander the Great is central to identity in Greece and Macedonia, which are quarreling over Macedonia's name — and bragging rights to the 4th century B.C. military genius. -
The Netherlands is one of a handful of European countries giving refuge to gay Chechens, after reports emerged that Chechnya's authorities were rounding up and torturing the LGBT community. -
More than a year after a failed military coup against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, hundreds of Turks are seeking refuge in Greece — despite long rivalries between the two nations. -
Though a quarter of the country is below sea level, the Netherlands has kept itself dry with ingenious water management. A recent innovation: an artificial sand peninsula that keeps the sea at bay. -
French fishermen in Brittany and Calais say up to 80 percent of their haul is from British waters. Many fear financial ruin if their access is restricted after Brexit. -
The village of Gourec, in Brittany, has long been home to British expats. With the prospect of Brexit, even more Britons are flocking there to secure French citizenship and retain EU privileges. -
Marlene Schiappa, France's equality minister, is a 34-year-old ex-blogger who hopes to change ingrained attitudes. Her work is cut out for her — but "she is young and she is out loud," a fan says. -
"It's nice to float on your back to see the architecture and the urban space around," says French journalist Julie Pacaud. "It's another way to experience the city."
