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Michael Luo

Michael Luo
羅明瀚
Luo in 2018
Born1976 (age 48–49)
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Alma materHarvard University (BA)
Occupations
  • Journalist
  • writer
  • editor
Notable workStrangers in the Land (2025)
AwardsGeorge Polk Award (2002) Livingston Award (2002)
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese羅明瀚
Simplified Chinese罗明瀚
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinLuó Mínghàn

Michael M. Luo (Chinese: 羅明瀚; born 1976)[1] is an American journalist currently serving as executive editor of The New Yorker and its website, newyorker.com.[2] Previously, he wrote for The New York Times as an investigative reporter.[3]

Early life and education

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Luo was born into a Taiwanese American family in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1976.[4][5] His parents were waishengren who had fled mainland China during the retreat of the government of the Republic of China to Taiwan.[6] His father was raised in Tainan, Taiwan, and immigrated to the United States in 1967 to study for a doctorate in electrical engineering at the University of Chicago. Luo's mother came to the U.S. to earn a master's degree in accounting at Western Illinois University. His paternal grandfather was a Kuomintang general in the National Revolutionary Army who disappeared in 1948. Their ancestral home was in Hunan.[7]

Luo spent his early childhood in upstate New York, and then attended high school in Michigan.[8] He graduated from Harvard University with a Bachelor of Arts in government in 1998. As an undergraduate at Harvard College, he wrote for The Harvard Crimson.[9]

Career

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Luo was a staff writer for two years for the Associated Press, where he wrote narrative feature stories, while also working at Newsday a police reporter on Long Island.[3][4] Luo reported for the Los Angeles Times before moving to The New York Times.[3] In 2002, Luo received a George Polk Award for Criminal Justice Reporting and a Livingston Award for Young Journalists "for a series of articles on three poor, [disabled] African-Americans in Alabama who were in prison for killing a baby that probably never existed."[3] His story resulted in the release of two of the three prisoners, while the third remained in prison on a separate charge.[3] In 2000, Luo won a T.W. Wang Award for Excellence for his journalism on Chinese-American topics.[4]

In September 2003, Luo joined the metropolitan desk The New York Times.[3][4] According to the Times, Luo "has written about economics and the recession as a national correspondent; covered the 2008 presidential campaign and the 2010 midterm elections; and done stints in Washington and in the Baghdad bureau."[3] Luo wrote a piece in October 2016 that went viral about a woman who accosted him on the street for being a Chinese American.[10]

Luo went on to edit investigations at The New Yorker, and was eventually promoted to manage the magazine's entire digital presence.

On April 29, 2025, Luo released a debut nonfiction book, Strangers in the Land, about the history of the Chinese in America.[11]

Personal life

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Luo resides on the Upper East Side of Manhattan with his wife, Wenny. They have two daughters, Madeleine and Vivienne.[12]

References

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  1. ^ 鉅亨網 (October 14, 2016). "《紐時》華裔編輯被罵「滾回中國」 網上發起反歧視運動". Anue (in Chinese (Taiwan)). Retrieved November 14, 2020.
  2. ^ Mullin, Benjamin (6 February 2017). "Michael Luo named editor of The New Yorker's website". Poynter. Retrieved 24 August 2017.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g "Michael Luo." The New York Times.
  4. ^ a b c d "Ask a Reporter: Michael Luo: Metropolitan Reporter, Transportation". The New York Times. 2004. Archived from the original on October 15, 2009. Retrieved July 1, 2020.
  5. ^ Contreras, Russell (2025-04-29). "New Yorker editor uncovers Chinese American history that most Americans don't know". Axios. Retrieved 2025-06-16.
  6. ^ Luo, Michael (10 October 2016). "An Open Letter to the Woman Who Told My Family to Go Back to China". The New York Times.
  7. ^ Luo, Michael (2025-04-29). Strangers in the Land: Exclusion, Belonging, and the Epic Story of the Chinese in America. Random House. ISBN 979-8-217-07011-4.
  8. ^ Beaujon, Andrew (2014-02-10). "Michael Luo leaves reporting, becomes deputy metro editor at NYT". Poynter. Retrieved 2024-08-17.
  9. ^ "Michael M. Luo | Writer Page | The Harvard Crimson". www.thecrimson.com. Retrieved 2025-04-06.
  10. ^ Luo, Michael (10 October 2016). "An Open Letter to the Woman Who Told My Family to Go Back to China". The New York Times.
  11. ^ STRANGERS IN THE LAND | Kirkus Reviews.
  12. ^ Beaujon, Andrew (2014-02-10). "Michael Luo leaves reporting, becomes deputy metro editor at NYT". Poynter. Retrieved 2025-06-16.
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