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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Former U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold now serves as special envoy to the African Great Lakes, where millions have died and dozens of armed groups scramble to seize land and minerals. He is part of a team of diplomats trying to rid the region, mired in decades of war, of a dizzying array of militias. -
A dozen war heroes from South Sudan's long struggle for independence are now accused of launching a coup to overthrow the democracy they helped create. One of them, Peter Adwok Nyaba, was telling NPR's Gregory Warner about the political roots of the conflict when police came for him. -
A senior official in South Sudan said Saturday that government troops will attack the main rebel stronghold if the rebels turn down a proposed cease-fire. The government had offered a truce on Friday to end two weeks of ethnic violence that has killed more than a thousand people. -
Human rights groups and Western governments have criticized the bill since it was first introduced in 2009. Uganda's president must still sign the measure, which has widespread support. -
When a Kenyan woman was diagnosed with HIV, she thought it meant the end of her marriage and her hopes to have children. But with the help of HIV therapy, Benta Odeny not only protects her husband from the virus, but she also has a healthy, HIV-negative daughter. -
Thousands gathered to remember and celebrate the life of Nelson Mandela Tuesday despite a downpour of rain. As one attendee said, "Mandela endured 27 years in prison. I can suffer through a day of rain."
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As they mourn the iconic anti-apartheid leader who shepherded South Africa to multiracial democracy, South Africans are experiencing mixed emotions. Some feel at peace with Nelson Mandela's death. Some are in disbelief, and some are anxious about a future without his guidance. -
The great anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela died late Friday night in Johannesburg. South Africans woke up to the news this morning and crowds gathered outside the former Mandela family home in Soweto township. This is the home where he lived before he was arrested, before he was imprisoned for those long years, before he became an icon. The mood among the hundreds of people outside the house and on the surrounding blocks was anything but somber.
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The U.S. exports a billion pounds of used clothes every year. Much of that winds up in used clothing markets in sub-Saharan Africa. -
Video footage from the attack on Nairobi's Westgate Mall in September appeared to show security forces looting stores in the middle of the deadly siege. The revelation shocked even Kenyans jaded by reports of corruption. But police officials tell a different story: one of good behavior going unrewarded, which forces out many ambitious would-be civil servants.
