Nathan Thornburgh is an American journalist, former TIME Magazine foreign correspondent editor, and CEO of Roads & Kingdoms, which he co-founded with food writer Matt Goulding and at which Anthony Bourdain was a partner from 2015 until his death. Thornburgh also hosts the Roads & Kingdoms-produced podcast The Trip.[1][2][3]

Nathan Thornburgh
Born
Nathan Thornburgh

1975 (age 48–49)
Alma materStanford University
Occupation(s)Journalist and podcast host
Years active1999–present
SpouseJulia Iwamasa
Children2

Early life

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Thornburgh grew up in Key West, Florida and moved to San Francisco for high school. He graduated from Stanford University in 1998 with a B.A. in comparative literature.[4][5][6]

Career

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TIME

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Thornburgh began in journalism as a stringer in Seattle for Time Magazine and a freelance writer for Seattle alt-weekly newspaper The Stranger.[7] During this period, he played music professionally in Seattle and Havana, Cuba.[8][9] In 2003, he moved to Boston and then New York to work as a domestic and foreign correspondent for TIME, staying at the magazine in various capacities until 2011. He served as Nation Editor, working on TIME’s U.S. political coverage in coordination with Jay Carney, then head of the Washington DC Bureau. He wrote numerous cover stories at TIME including The Class of 9/11, Dropout Nation, the Case for Amnesty. He was a writer on the 2007 TIME Person of the Year package on Vladimir Putin and later served as editor of the Briefing and 10 Questions sections of the magazine.[10]

Roads & Kingdoms

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Thornburgh met former chef and Men’s Health food editor Matt Goulding in 2009 in Mexico City, where they first came up with the idea for Roads & Kingdoms, a publication dedicated to in-depth travel, food, and politics reporting.[11] They started Roads & Kingdoms first as a Tumblr in 2011, launching the full site in March 2012 with their third co-founder, designer Doug Hughmanick.[12]

In 2015, Anthony Bourdain joined Roads & Kingdoms as the publication’s sole investor and editor-at-large after Goulding sent him what AdAge described as a drunken e-mail.[13][14] Roads & Kingdoms has won numerous awards, including the 2017 James Beard Foundation Award for Publication of the Year.[15]

Thornburgh was the editor of three books written by his Roads & Kingdoms partner Matt Goulding for HarperCollins: Rice Noodle Fish, Grape Olive Pig, and Pasta Pane Vino.[16][17][18]

In 2017, Roads & Kingdoms and CNN partnered to create the digital venture Explore Parts Unknown, which included original stories, video, photography, and interactives from around the world.[19]

Explore Parts Unknown won several Webbies for design and video. Thornburgh won a 2018 Primetime Emmy as executive producer of Anthony Bourdain: Explore Parts Unknown in the Outstanding Short Form Non-Fiction category, along with director Kate Kunath, Matt Goulding, and several producers from CNN.[20]

The Trip

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In 2016, Thornburgh interviewed Anthony Bourdain and their interview would take them to new lengths less than a year later. In partnership with Anthony Bourdain, Thornburgh launched the travel podcast The Trip in 2017. Hosted by Thornburgh, The Trip features interviews with exceptional people around the world, including W. Kamau Bell, Samin Nosrat, Dan the Automator, and José Andrés.[21]

Accolades

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  • 2019 National Magazine Award for Website, Service and Lifestyle[22]
  • 2018 Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Short Form Non-Fiction[23]
  • 2018 James Beard Foundation Award for Best Food Section[24]
  • 2017 James Beard Foundation Award for Publication of the Year[25]
  • 2017 IACP Award, Literary Food Writing for Grape, Olive, Pig[26]
  • 2016 Travel Book of the Year, Society of American Travel Writers, for Rice, Noodle, Fish[27]
  • 2013 Society of American Travel Writers Gold Award for Best Travel Journalism Site[28]

References

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  1. ^ "Anthony Bourdain: Explore Parts Unknown". Television Academy.
  2. ^ Galarza, Daniel (May 27, 2015). "Anthony Bourdain Invests in Food and Culture Website Roads & Kingdoms". Eater.
  3. ^ "THE TRIP: DRINKING WITH EXCEPTIONAL PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD". Roads & Kingdoms.
  4. ^ Choi, Amy. "Hey Dad, Are We White?". The Mashup Americans.
  5. ^ "Nathan Thornburgh Author Page". The Stranger.
  6. ^ "Nathan Thornburgh Biography". ProCon.
  7. ^ "Nathan Thornburgh Author Page". The Stranger.
  8. ^ Thornburgh, Nathan (November 26, 2008). "The Sound of Change: Can Music Save Cuba?". TIME.
  9. ^ "Longform Podcast: Nathan Thornburgh". Longform. January 24, 2018.
  10. ^ "Nathan Thornburgh Author Page". TIME.
  11. ^ Harper, Davis (April 27, 2017). "5(ish) Questions: Nathan Thornburgh talks mind-blowing drugs and Anthony Bourdain". Nieman Storyboard.
  12. ^ Fischer, Mary Clare (June 30, 2014). "Telling the Story of a Culture Through 'the Lens of the Grease-soaked Tamale'". American Journalism Review.
  13. ^ Galarza, Daniel (May 27, 2015). "Anthony Bourdain Invests in Food and Culture Website Roads & Kingdoms". Eater.
  14. ^ "ANTHONY BOURDAIN INVESTED IN THIS WEBSITE AFTER FOUNDER SENT HIM A DRUNKEN EMAIL". AdAge. May 27, 2015.
  15. ^ Canavan, Hillary (April 25, 2017). "Here Is the Full List of 2017 James Beard Foundation Media Award Winners". Eater.
  16. ^ "Grape, Olive, Pig". HarperCollins.
  17. ^ "Pasta, Pane, Vino". HarperCollins.
  18. ^ "Rice, Noodle, Fish". HarperCollins.
  19. ^ Guaglione, Sara (April 11, 2017). "CNN, Roads & Kingdoms Team For Bourdain's 'Parts Unknown' Site". MediaPost.
  20. ^ "Anthony Bourdain: Explore Parts Unknown". Television Academy.
  21. ^ "The Trip - Roads & Kingdoms". Top Podcast.
  22. ^ "2019 Ellies Website, Service and Lifestyle".
  23. ^ "Anthony Bourdain: Explore Parts Unknown". Television Academy.
  24. ^ Canavan, Hillary (May 7, 2018). "Here Is the Full List of 2018 James Beard Foundation Media Award Winners". Eater.
  25. ^ "THE 2017 JBF PUBLICATION OF THE YEAR: ROADS & KINGDOMS". James Beard. April 25, 2017.
  26. ^ "Grape, Olive, Pig". HarperCollins.
  27. ^ "Rice, Noodle, Fish". HarperCollins.
  28. ^ "SATW FOUNDATION LOWELL THOMAS TRAVEL JOURNALIST COMPETITION". SATW.