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 Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., about the legacy of 9/11, how it's shaped the U.S. intelligence community and how the Trump administration is changing things.
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What is the best apple? Granny Smith? Macintosh? If you've ever wondered, there's a website for you. NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with Brian Frange, the founder of applerankings.com
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NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks to author Patrick Ryan about his new novel, Buckeye.
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The actors tell All Things Considered host Mary Louise Kelly that their close relationship as real-life friends helped them get through some of their most toxic moments on screen. -
NPR's Mary Louise Kelly introduces you to her new national security podcast, Sources & Methods. Each week digs into the biggest national security stories.
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NPR's Hannah Chinn and Emily Kwong talk about the microbes behind great-tasting chocolate, possible reasons for daytime drowsiness, and a curious observation about the poop of seabirds.
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NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks to poet Raymond Antrobus about his new memoir, The Quiet Ear, and how he has navigated between the worlds of hearing and hearing loss.
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The 50-year-old casual dining chain Chili's has posted five straight quarters of double digit sales increases. NPR's Mary Louise Kelly talks with Slate's Dan Kois about what's behind the brand's turnaround.
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NPR's Mary Louise Kelly talks with former State Department official Ned Price about the meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Trump and what it could mean for global security.
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Karin Slaughter talks about her 25th book -- "We are All Guilty Here" - with NPR's Mary Louise Kelly. It's a small town murder mystery - that twists and turns until the end.
