Peter Hessler Bio | Wiki
Peter Hessler is an American journalist and writer. He has written four books about China and has contributed numerous articles to The New Yorker and National Geographic, among other publications.
In 2011, Peter received a MacArthur Fellowship in recognition and encouragement of his “keenly observed accounts of ordinary people responding to the complexities of life in such rapidly changing societies as Reform Era China.” Originally from Columbia, Missouri, he has spent most of his writing life overseas.
In 1996, Peter joined the Peace Corps, which sent him to Fuling, a small city in southwestern China. For two years, he taught English and American literature at Fuling Teachers College, an experience that eventually became the subject of his first book, River Town, which was published in 2001.
Peter Hessler Age
Peter was born on June 14, 1969, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. He is 53 years old.
Peter Hessler Height
He is a man of average stature and stands at a height of 5 ft 8 in (Approx. 1.72 m).
Peter Hessler Family
He was born and raised in Columbia, Missouri by his parents. Peter holds an American nationality and belongs to mixed ethnicity. Information about his parents is not available at the moment.
Peter Hessler Wife | Leslie Chung
Peter is married to a fellow journalist and writer Leslie T. Chang. Together, the couple is proud parents of two daughters born in 2010. Leslie is the author of Factory Girls: From Village to City in a Changing China (2008).
Peter Hessler Education
He graduated from Hickman High School in 1988. Peter studied at Princeton University, where he graduated with an A.B. in English in 1992 after completing a senior thesis titled “Dead Man’s Shoes and Other Stories.”During his junior year, he studied in John McPhee’s writing seminar. After graduating from Princeton, Peter received a Rhodes Scholarship to study English language and literature at Mansfield College, University of Oxford
Peter Hessler The New Yorker | New Yorker
Peter joined The New Yorker as a staff writer in 2000 and served as a foreign correspondent until 2007. He left China in 2007 and settled in Ridgway, Colorado, where he continued to publish articles in The New Yorker on topics including the Peace Corps in Nepal and small towns in Colorado.
In October 2011, Peter and his family moved to Cairo, where he covered the Middle East for The New Yorker. During his time in Chengdu, he wrote several pieces for The New Yorker about how China handled the COVID-19 pandemic.
Some of Peter‘s colleagues at The New Yorker include:
Molly Fischer – staff writer
Liana Finck – cartoonist
Lauren Collins – staff writer
Isaac Chotiner – staff writer
Emily Flake – cartoonist
Liza Donnelly – cartoonist
Jennifer Gonnerman – staff writer
Peter Hessler Books
River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze (2001)
Oracle Bones: A Journey Through Time in China (2006)
Country Driving: A Journey from Farm to Factory (2010),
Strange Stones: Dispatches from East and West (2013)
Peter Hessler River Town
Peter has written four books on China. River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze (2001) is a Kiriyama Prize-winning book about his experiences in two years as a Peace Corps volunteer teaching English in China.
Peter Hessler Country Driving
His third book, Country Driving: A Journey from Farm to Factory (2010), is a record of Peter’s journeys driving a rented car from rural northern Chinese counties to the factory towns of southern China. It also shows the significant economic and industrial growth taking place there.
Peter Hessler Oracle Bones
Oracle Bones: A Journey Through Time in China (2006) features a series of parallel episodes featuring Peter’s former students. He is a Uighur dissident who fled to the U.S., and the archaeologist Chen Mengjia who committed suicide during the Cultural Revolution.
Peter Hessler China
Peter joined the Peace Corps in 1996 and was sent to China for two years to teach English at Fuling Teachers College. He later worked in China as a freelance writer for publications such as The Wall Street Journal, the Boston Globe, the South China Morning Post, and National Geographic. Peter joined The New Yorker as a staff writer in 2000 and served as a foreign correspondent until 2007.
Peter Hessler The Buried | Buried
In 2019, Peter published The Buried: An Archaeology of the Egyptian Revolution. The book detail his experiences in Egypt during the Arab Spring.
Peter Hessler Egypt
In October 2011, Peter and his family moved to Cairo, where he covered the Middle East for The New Yorker. In an interview upon being named a MacArthur Fellow in September 2011, he expressed his intention to spend much of the next year learning Arabic. He stated that he envisioned spending five or six years in the Middle East. While living there, peter and his wife both learned Egyptian Arabic.
Peter Hessler Sichuan University
In August 2019, he and his family moved to Chengdu in southwest China. Peter taught non-fiction writing at Sichuan University – Pittsburgh Institute. During his time in Chengdu, he wrote several pieces for The New Yorker about how China handled the COVID-19 pandemic. Because Sichuan University-Pittsburgh Institute declined to renew his teaching contract, he and his family moved back to Colorado at the end of the first semester of 2021.
Peter Hessler Salary
He contributes articles to The New Yorker and National Geographic, among other publications. Therefore, he earns a decent income. Peter’s average salary is $86,700 per year.
Peter Hessler Net Worth
He earns his wealth from his career, therefore, he has amassed a fortune over the years. Peter’s estimated net worth is $875,790.
Where Is Peter Hessler Now
Because Sichuan University-Pittsburgh Institute declined to renew his teaching contract, Peter and his family moved back to Colorado at the end of the first semester of 2021.