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.
-
NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg about the Baltimore Key Bridge which collapsed after being hit by a ship early Tuesday morning.
-
NPR's Mary Louise Kelly talks with The Athletic's Sabreena Merchant about what to expect in the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA's Division 1 women's basketball tournament.
-
32-year-old former cryptocurrency golden boy, Sam Bankman-Fried, has been sentenced to 25 years in federal prison. Blomberg's Zeke Faux was in court today as Bankman-Fried was sentenced.
-
NPR's Mary Louise Kelly talks with David Frum about his latest piece in The Atlantic, titled "Miranda's Last Gift: When our daughter died suddenly, she left us with grief, memories — and Ringo."
-
This Friday marks a year since Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was detained by Russian security forces. NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with his sister about how he's doing.
-
As the Men's Sweet 16 round of the NCAA tournament kick off tomorrow, NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with TNT Sports sideline reporter and bracketology expert, Andy Katz.
-
Since October 7, there have been at least 410 attacks on health care in Gaza, according to the World Health Organization. What does international humanitarian law say about targeting hospitals?
-
NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with Baltimore mayor Brandon Scott about the aftermath of the bridge collapse in Baltimore and what happens next.
-
NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with critical infrastructure expert Stephen Flynn about the bridge collapse in Baltimore.
-
NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with White House National Security communications adviser John Kirby about US intelligence on the recent terror attack near Moscow.