I’m Jennifer Koons, a news editor at The 19th. I have spent more than two decades covering the policies, politics and on-the-ground stories at the nexus of peace and conflict. My greatest wish is to complicate the narratives of complicated women — and invite you to devour every word.
My reporting has appeared in The Atlantic, The Washington Post, The New York Times and Foreign Policy, among other publications. It includes a profile of Afghanistan’s last woman ambassador in Washington and a story about who gets to be America’s face to the world.
My recent work has emphasized the untold stories of the women who have shaped and are shaping modern diplomacy. I have worked as a foreign correspondent and national security editor and am the creator of the newsletter “Our Women in the World,” which features back-channel dispatches from diplomats who are at home in the world — and, too often, invisible at home. The culmination of this work will be two recently finished books: “The Striped-Pants Girls,” a reported history, and “SAFIRA, SAFIRA,” a novel.
My editorial leadership includes serving as news director at Axios and national security editor across several major publications. I am a Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting grantee for my reporting on the impact of regional instability, including forced migration, overpopulation and child marriage during the rise of Boko Haram and other militant and extremist groups in the Sahel. For more than 15 years, I have taught undergraduate and graduate journalism students at Northwestern University, including at its Qatar campus, and at Georgetown University.
I received a B.A. in political science from Ohio State University and dual graduate degrees in journalism and law from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism and Northwestern Pritzker School of Law.
My work is free to consume and free to republish because of contributions from readers like you. A donation of $19 goes a long way toward sustaining our nonprofit newsroom.
