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 ''

'' 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:

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

*
Twitter

Column archive
at ''

'' *
Memoirs of a teenage Trot
''

'', 19 February 2000
Column archive
at ''

'' * *
Article archive
at

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