Gary Andrew Younge , (born January 1969) is a British journalist, author, broadcaster and academic. He was editor-at-large for ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' newspaper, which he joined in 1993. In November 2019, it was announced that Younge had been appointed as professor of sociology at the
University of Manchester
, mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity
, established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univ ...
and would be leaving his post at ''The Guardian'', where he was a columnist for two decades, although he would continue to write for the newspaper.
[Younge, Gary (10 January 2020]
"In these bleak times, imagine a world where you can thrive"
''The Guardian''. He also writes for the ''
New Statesman
The ''New Statesman'' is a British Political magazine, political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney Webb, Sidney and Beatrice ...
''.
Younge is the author of the books ''No Place Like Home'' (2002), ''Stranger in a Strange Land'' (2006), ''Who Are We – And Should It Matter in the 21st Century?'' (2011), ''The Speech: The Story Behind Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Dream'' (2013) and ''
Another Day in the Death of America'' (2016).
Early years and education
Younge grew up in
Stevenage, Hertfordshire
Stevenage ( ) is a large town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, about north of London. Stevenage is east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1(M), between Letchworth Garden City to the north and Welwyn Garden City to the south. In 1946, Steven ...
, where he was born.
He is of
Barbadian extraction.
In 1984, aged 15, he briefly joined the Young Socialists, the youth section of the
Workers Revolutionary Party, but left a year later after harassment from other party members, including allegedly being accused of working for
MI5
The Security Service, also known as MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), G ...
and claims that he supported
Fidel Castro only because of his ethnicity. At the age of 17, Younge went to teach English in a
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
Eritrean refugee school in
Sudan with the educational charity
Project Trust.
["About"]
Gary Younge website.
In the late 1980s, he attended
Heriot-Watt University in
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...
, where he studied French and Russian, and was elected Vice President (Welfare) of the Student Association, a paid sabbatical post he held for a year.
Career
In his final year at university he was awarded a
bursary
A bursary is a monetary award made by any educational institution or funding authority to individuals or groups. It is usually awarded to enable a student to attend school, university or college when they might not be able to, otherwise. Some awa ...
from ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' to study journalism at
City University, and after a short internship at
Yorkshire Television
ITV Yorkshire, previously known as Yorkshire Television and commonly referred to as just YTV, is the British television service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV (TV network), ITV network. Until 19 ...
he joined ''The Guardian'' in 1993, and has since reported from all over Europe, Africa, the US and the Caribbean.
His book, ''No Place like Home'', in which he retraced the route of the
civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life o ...
Freedom Riders, was published in 1999 and was shortlisted for the
Guardian First Book Award
The Guardian First Book Award was a literary award presented by ''The Guardian'' newspaper. It annually recognised one book by a new writer. It was established in 1999, replacing the Guardian Fiction Award or Guardian Fiction Prize that the newspap ...
. His subsequent books are ''Stranger in a Strange Land: Encounters in the Disunited States'' (2006), ''Who Are We – And Should It Matter in the 21st Century?'' (2011), ''The Speech: The Story Behind Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Dream'' (2013), and most recently ''
Another Day in the Death of America: A Chronicle of Ten Short Lives'' (2016), a "deeply affecting" account of everyday fatalities among young people across the US, which in 2017 won the J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize from
Columbia Journalism School
The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism is located in Pulitzer Hall on the university's Morningside Heights, Manhattan, Morningside Heights campus in New York City.
Founded in 1912 by Joseph Pulitzer, Columbia Journalism School is ...
and the
Nieman Foundation for Journalism.
Younge has also wrote a monthly column for ''
The Nation
''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper t ...
'', "Beneath the Radar".
In the
2020
2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...
and
2021
File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...
''
Powerlist
The ''Powerlist'' is a list of the 100 most influential people of African or African Caribbean heritage in the United Kingdom. The list is updated annually and has been published in book format by Powerful Media since 2007. The ''Powerlist'' is ...
'', Younge was listed in the Top 100 of the most influential people in the UK from African/African-Caribbean descent.
The same year saw Younge become professor of sociology at
Manchester University
, mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity
, established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...
.
In addition, Younge is on the 2020 list of
100 Great Black Britons.
Personal life
In 2011, he relocated to
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
, where he lived with his wife Tara Mack, his son Osceola and daughter Zora until returning to Britain in 2015.
In 2015, he announced his intention to move to
Hackney, and now lives in London with his wife and two children.
His brother Pat Younge is chief creative officer of
BBC Vision
BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 1 ...
.
Awards and honours
*2007: Honorary doctorate from
Heriot-Watt University
*2007: Honorary doctorate from
London South Bank University
London South Bank University (LSBU) is a public university in Elephant and Castle, London. It is based in the London Borough of Southwark, near the South Bank of the River Thames, from which it takes its name. Founded in 1892 as the Borough ...
*2009:
James Cameron Award for the "combined moral vision and professional integrity" of his coverage of the
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...
election campaign
*2015: Foreign Commentator of the Year by The Comment Awards
*2015:
David Nyhan Prize for political journalism from
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
's
Shorenstein Center
*2016:
Sandford Award The Sandford Award, previously the Sandford Award for Heritage Education, is a British and Irish award for education programmes at heritage sites. Its website describes it as "an independently judged, quality assured assessment of education programm ...
, "for radio, TV and online programmes that reflect religious, spiritual or ethical themes"
*2016:
Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences The Fellowship of the Academy of Social Sciences (FAcSS) is an award granted by the Academy of Social Sciences to leading academics, policy-makers, and practitioners of the social sciences.
Fellows were previously known as Academicians and used the ...
(FAcSS)
*2017: Honorary doctorate from
Cardiff University
*2017: James Aaronson Career Achievement Award from
Hunter College, City University of New York
*2020:
Powerlist
The ''Powerlist'' is a list of the 100 most influential people of African or African Caribbean heritage in the United Kingdom. The list is updated annually and has been published in book format by Powerful Media since 2007. The ''Powerlist'' is ...
of the Top 100 most influential people in the UK of African/African-Caribbean descent.
*2020:
100 Great Black Britons
*2021: Elected a
Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
*
References
External links
*
TwitterColumn archiveat ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
''
*
Memoirs of a teenage Trot ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', 19 February 2000
Column archiveat ''
The Nation
''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper t ...
''
*
*
Article archiveat
Journalisted
The Media Standards Trust is a British media think tank formed in 2006. It carries out research on issues in the media sector. It also advocates for press freedom as well as industry quality, transparency and accountability. It is a registered char ...
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Younge, Gary
1969 births
Living people
British male journalists
British travel writers
The Guardian journalists
Alumni of City, University of London
Alumni of Heriot-Watt University
Black British writers
British republicans
English socialists
The Nation (U.S. magazine) people
Workers Revolutionary Party (UK) members
People from Hitchin
People from Stevenage
British people of Barbadian descent
Fellows of the Academy of Social Sciences
Writers from Chicago
21st-century British journalists
21st-century British male writers
Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature
Male non-fiction writers