About — Howard W. French

Howard W. French · New York

Biography

Howard W. French (born October 14, 1957) is an American journalist, author, professor, and photographer whose work spans five decades of reporting from Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, and Central America. A former bureau chief and senior writer for The New York Times, he joined the paper in 1986 and reported from the front lines of history across four continents until 2008.

He began his career in the early 1980s as a French-English translator and English literature instructor at the University of Abidjan, Ivory Coast, before becoming a freelance reporter for The Washington Post and other publications in West Africa. He was one of the Times's first Black foreign correspondents.

Since 2008, French has been a professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, where he was named Professor of the Year in 2016. He writes a widely read weekly column on Africa and international affairs for Foreign Policy and contributes regularly to The New York Review of Books, The Atlantic, and The Guardian. He is a member of the board of the Columbia Journalism Review and past president of The New Humanitarian, a non-profit news agency based in Geneva.

In 2025, French was elected as a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Languages: English French Mandarin Spanish Japanese

Career

1980s

Translator & University Instructor, Ivory Coast

Worked as a French-English translator in Abidjan and taught English literature at the University of Abidjan. Began freelance reporting for The Washington Post and other publications across West Africa.

1986

Joined The New York Times

Joined as a metropolitan reporter in New York, one of the paper's first Black foreign correspondents.

1990–94

Bureau Chief, Caribbean & Central America

Covered Haiti, Cuba, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and numerous other countries for the Times during a period of dramatic political upheaval across the region.

1994–98

Bureau Chief, West & Central Africa

Reported on wars in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Central Africa, with particular attention to the fall of Zaire's longtime dictator Mobutu Sese Seko. This work became the basis for his 2004 book A Continent for the Taking.

1998–2003

Tokyo Bureau Chief, Japan & the Koreas

Covered Japan and the Korean peninsula for the Times. To prepare for the assignment, he spent a year studying Japanese at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.

2003–08

Shanghai Bureau Chief, China

Reported on China's economic and social transformation in the 2000s. Simultaneously served as a weekly global affairs columnist for the International Herald Tribune.

2008–

Professor, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism

Has taught at Columbia since 2008, named Professor of the Year in 2016. Continues to write a weekly column for Foreign Policy and contribute to major publications including The New York Review of Books and The Atlantic.

Honors & Fellowships

2025

Elected Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences One of the most prestigious scholarly honors in the United States

2025

Best Nonfiction of 2025 — Publishers Weekly For The Second Emancipation

2022

Hurston/Wright Award for Nonfiction For Born in Blackness

2022

MAAH Stone Book Award Massachusetts African American History Museum — for Born in Blackness

2016

Professor of the Year Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism

2011

Open Societies Foundation Fellowship

2005

Finalist, Hurston/Wright Award for Nonfiction For A Continent for the Taking

2004

Honorary Doctorate, University of Maryland For commentary on East Asia

1999

Jefferson Fellow, East-West Society Honolulu, Hawaii

Various

Two-Time Overseas Press Club Award Recipient For foreign correspondence at The New York Times

Various

Two-Time Pulitzer Prize Nominee

What They're Saying

Publishers Weekly — Starred Review

"A magisterial account… a towering achievement."

The Second Emancipation

The Guardian

"French writes with the elegance you would expect from a distinguished foreign correspondent, and with the passion of someone deeply committed to providing a corrective. This is not a comfortable or comforting read, but it is beautifully done; a masterpiece even."

Book Review

Africa In the World

"He may have made his name as a journalist, but he is a historian now… Howard's status as a leading historian of the African world is now inarguable."

The Second Emancipation

Annette Gordon-Reed — Pulitzer Prize Winner

"French illuminates a period of time when people believed that standards of justice and equality could prevail for African people on the continent and in the diaspora."

Praise for The Second Emancipation

Chicago Tribune

"Lively… vivid… This is the best book about Africa to come out in some time."

A Continent for the Taking

The New York Times Book Review

"Extraordinary… French delves into the lives of some of the one million-plus Chinese migrants he says are now building careers in Africa… and the stories he tells are fascinating."

China's Second Continent

About Howard