Howard French

"A Continent for the Taking: The Tragedy &
Hope of Africa"
Underwritten by: John & Mary Loeks

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• Senior writer for the New York Times and has been serving as the newspaper's Shanghai Bureau Chief since August 2003
• Served as the Tokyo Bureau Chief for the New York Times from 1999-2003 covering Japan, the Koreas and the Russian Far East
• Covered West & Central Africa from 1994-1998, devoting particular attention to the fall of Mobutu Sese Seko, the late dictator of Zaire, in 1997. French's work in the Congo was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, and won the Overseas Press Coverage Award for best interpretation of foreign affairs.
• During the course of his career, the New York Times has awarded him its highest prize, the Publisher's Award, six times. Most recently, the prize was given for his coverage of Pakistan in 2002.
• Author of "A Continent for the Taking: Tragedy and Hope for Africa”
• Mr. French graduated with a BA in Political Science from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, in 1979. He speaks French, Japanese, Chinese, Creole, Twi and Spanish. He resides in Shanghai, China, with his wife and their two sons.