Meline Toumani is a freelance writer based in New York City and the author of There Was and There Was Not: A Journey Through Hate and Possibility in Turkey, Armenia and Beyond. She has written about politics, ideas, books, and music for the New York Times Sunday Magazine and culture pages, The Nation, n+1, Salon, The Boston Globe, GlobalPost, The National, and Travel + Leisure. As a foreign reporter, she has worked in Turkey, Armenia, Georgia and Russia.
In 2002 and 2003, she was the coordinator of the Russian American Journalism Institute in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, and in 2007 she and was a journalism fellow in residence at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna.
Her work has been anthologized in Istanbul: The Collected Traveler, and included in The New York Times Presents Smarter by Sunday: 52 Weekends of Essential Knowledge for the Curious Mind. She has been an invited speaker in academic and private settings, and a commentator for The Wall Street Journal Online, Deutsche Welle Radio, Russia Today and Pacifica Radio. In addition to her freelance work, she has held staff editorial positions at the New York Times Magazine, KQED Public Media, and GreatSchools.
Toumani graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with high honors in English and public policy, and holds a master's degree in journalism from the Cultural Reporting and Criticism Program at NYU.
Contact: Website
Meline Toumani on KCRW
More from KCRW
Anniversary of George Floyd’s murder: Southern Californians reflect on a year of change
PoliticsOne year ago this week, George Floyd was murdered in Minneapolis at the hands of former police officer Derek Chauvin. The killing set off the largest civil rights movement the U.S.
Will delivery drones be a thing? A fight for LA’s skies is brewing
Science & TechnologySome of the world’s largest corporations like Amazon, Walmart, Google, and UPS are all looking into using drones to deliver small packages.
New California Attorney General Rob Bonta wants to take a different approach to criminal justice
PoliticsLast year, California passed legislation that requires the Office of the State Attorney General to investigate all police shootings that result in the death of an unarmed civilian.
Lots of goods are more expensive. Is this temporary?
Business & EconomyThe cost of living surged 5% last month, according to the Department of Labor. That’s the highest inflation rate we’ve seen in more than a decade.
Dennis Kucinich: From sleeping in a car as a kid to 16 years in Congress
PoliticsThe former Congress member talks to Robert Scheer about his life and the dramatic events surrounding his political rise, as told in his new book “The Division of Light and Power.”
Joe Mathews on the fight over groundwater rights in the California desert
EnvironmentAll of California is officially facing drought conditions, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor . And much of the state is in extreme or severe drought after the dry winter.
California’s budget is bursting with new spending. Joe Mathews says we need to pump the brakes
Business & EconomyJoe Mathews says that focusing on the state budget, when it appears in good shape, obscures California’s systemic failures.
Statewide Special: Police reform in California, one year after George Floyd
PoliticsKCRW is joining other public radio stations up and down the state to mark the one-year anniversary of the murder of George Floyd.