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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NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with gospel artist Pastor T.L. Barrett, Jr., whose collected work was recently reissued in a box set called I Shall Wear a Crown. -
NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with Nicaraguan poet and political activist Gioconda Belli about the increasing tension in Nicaragua, as the country moves towards a presidential election.
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NPR's Mary Louise Kelly talks with Associated Press reporter Jeffrey Collins about a series of crimes swirling around a powerful South Carolina family.
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NPR's Mary Louise Kelly talks to Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat, about crafting the Democrats' spending bill and options to raise taxes on the rich to pay for his party's priorities.
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The infrastructure bill will set aside billions of dollars to update the electric grid. Experts weigh in on whether or not it will be enough as extreme weather events disrupt access to electricity.
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Harvard epidemiologist Michael Mina wants to increase availability of the at-home rapid tests the Biden administration is promoting. But he warns of a shortage without market competition.
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Monday night, the Gala made its return. NPR's Mary Louise Kelly talks with Rachel Tashjian, fashion critic at GQ about the interpretations of this year's theme: American Independence.
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After thousands of entries, the Tiny Desk Contest judges have landed on this year's winner.
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NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with Congressman Peter Meijer of Michigan about the hearing of Secretary of State Anthony Blinken regarding the withdrawal from Afghanistan.
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NPR's Mary Louise talks with a Special Immigration Visa applicant hoping to board a plane out of Afghanistan from the Mazar-i-Sharif International Airport.
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NPR's Mary Louise Kelly talks with the Wilson Center's Jean Lee about North Korea's testing of cruise missiles and about at how the country is handling COVID-19.
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NPR's Mary Louise Kelly talks with cookbook writer Nigella Lawson about her latest book Cook, Eat, Repeat and how to stop viewing cooking as tedious and, instead, find peace in the kitchen.
