{{Short description|American journalist and podcast host}} {{About|the journalist|the American DJ and record producer|Sango (musician)|}} {{Third-party|date=February 2022}} {{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}} '''Kai Wright''' is an American journalist, activist, author, and podcast host.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=People - Kai Wright {{!}} WNYC {{!}} New York Public Radio, Podcasts, Live Streaming Radio, News|url=https://www.wnyc.org/people/kai-wright/|access-date=October 29, 2021|publisher=WNYC|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=January 9, 2012|title=Forgotten Sons|url=https://www.poz.com/article/Black-MSM-HIV-21714-4368|access-date=December 3, 2021|website=POZ|language=en}}</ref> He has served as copy editor at the New York Daily News, senior writer at The Root, senior editor at City Limits, editorial director at ColorLines,<ref name=":4" /> and features editor at The Nation.<ref name=":5" /> Wright's journalism has focused on social, racial, and economic justice. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, Mother Jones, and Salon, among other outlets, and his national broadcast appearances include MSNBC and NPR.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":6" /> He is the current host and managing editor of Notes from America with Kai Wright on WNYC.<ref name=":0" />
== Career == Kai Wright began his career as a journalist in the late '90s at the Washington Blade. His first assignment was a story looking at the disproportionate risk of HIV infection among people of color, and particularly young gay men of color. He then spent much of his early career writing about impact of HIV/AIDS on young gay men of color.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Do the Wright thing {{!}} EDGE Boston, MA|url=https://boston.edgemedianetwork.com/story.php?84245|access-date=November 12, 2021|website=EDGE Media Network|language=en-us}}</ref>
Wright went on to become a favorite reporter at Type Investigations (formerly The Investigative Fund) where he covered economic inequality, access to healthcare, and racial inequity.<ref name=":0" /> At the same time he became an Alfred Knobler Fellow at its parent organization, The Nation Institute.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Vora|first=Jayati|date=June 28, 2010|title=Ask [Kai Wright] About Gay Youth in New York|url=https://www.typeinvestigations.org/blog/2010/06/28/ask-kai-wright-gay-youth-new-york/|access-date=December 10, 2021|website=Type Investigations|language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":6">{{Cite web|date=April 2, 2010|title=Kai Wright|url=https://www.thenation.com/authors/kai-wright/|access-date=October 29, 2021|website=The Nation|language=en-US}}</ref>
Wright gained notoriety in the HIV prevention world as he, while writing as a columnist and later senior writer at The Root, he served as publications editor for the Black AIDS Institute.<ref>{{Cite web|title=A black plague: a new report says blacks are hit hardest by AIDS|url=https://theworld.org/stories/2008-08-06/black-plague-new-report-says-blacks-are-hit-hardest-aids|access-date=January 14, 2022|website=The World from PRX|date=August 14, 2013 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Housing Works|date=February 19, 2009|title=Where Are the Black Gay Men?|url=https://www.thebodypro.com/article/black-gay-men|access-date=|website=The Body Pro}}</ref>
He spent time as senior editor at ''City Limits,'' copy editor at the ''New York'' ''Daily News,'' and news reporter at ''The Washington Blade''<ref name=":2"/> before joining ColorLines in 2010, initially as editorial and later as, editor-at-large<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|last=Whaley|first=K. P.|date=July 31, 2015|title=Kai Wright|url=https://www.wpr.org/people/kai-wright|access-date=October 29, 2021|website=Wisconsin Public Radio|language=en|archive-date=October 9, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211009041340/https://www.wpr.org/people/kai-wright|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite news|title=How Social Media Helped Spread Protest In Michael Brown Shooting|language=en|work=NPR.org|url=https://www.npr.org/2014/08/16/340857860/how-social-media-helped-spread-protest-in-michael-brown-shooting|access-date=November 5, 2021}}</ref> He is credited with transforming the publication from a bimonthly print journal to a daily digital destination reaching 1 million readers a month.<ref name=":2">{{Cite news|last=Room|first=Press|date=January 28, 2015|title='The Nation' Magazine Names Kai Wright as Features Editor|journal=The Nation |language=en-US|url=https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/nation-magazine-names-kai-wright-features-editor/|access-date=October 29, 2021|issn=0027-8378}}</ref>
In 2015, Wright was persuaded to join The Nation as a features editor, making it, at the time, one of the few political magazines with people of color in senior leadership.<ref name=":5">{{Cite web|date=April 7, 2015|title=How The Nation Is Facing The New Era Of Journalism|url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-nation-magazine-150_n_7016930|access-date=November 5, 2021|website=HuffPost|language=en}}</ref> Wright edited the magazine's features, investigative reports, and editorials, helped cultivate new talent, and developed new digital ventures. The magazine looked to him to enhance coverage in his areas of expertise - issues of race and racial justice, inequality, labor, health, and sexuality.<ref name=":2"/>
While features editor at The Nation, Wright began hosting the podcast "The United States of Anxiety" in partnership with WNYC Studios.
Since becoming managing editor at WNYC and host of its narrative unit, Wright has hosted the podcasts Indivisible, Caught: The Lives of Juvenile Justice, There Goes the Neighborhood, The Stakes and United States of Anxiety<ref>{{Cite magazine|last=Blistein|first=Jon|date=April 23, 2019|title=New Podcast 'The Stakes' Plots Episodes on Conscious Hip-Hop, Mueller Report|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/stakes-wnyc-podcast-kai-wright-united-states-anxiety-826136/|access-date=November 5, 2021|magazine=Rolling Stone|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Indivisible|url=https://www.npr.org/podcasts/516647023/indivisible|access-date=November 5, 2021|website=NPR.org|language=en}}</ref>
Outside of his home publications, his writing has appeared in In These Times,<ref>{{Cite web|title=Kai Wright|url=https://inthesetimes.com/authors/kai-wright|access-date=December 10, 2021|website=In These Times|language=en}}</ref> Truthout,<ref>{{Cite web|last=Truthout|title=Kai Wright|url=https://truthout.org/authors/kai-wright/|access-date=December 10, 2021|website=Truthout|date=December 10, 2017 |language=en-US}}</ref> Common Dreams,<ref>{{Cite web|title=Kai Wright|url=https://www.commondreams.org/author/kai-wright|access-date=December 10, 2021|website=Common Dreams|language=en}}</ref> Essence magazine, and Mother Jones.<ref>{{Cite book|title=African American Experience: Black History and Culture Through Speeches, Letters, Editorials, Poems, Songs, and Stories {{!}} IndieBound.org|url=https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781579127732|access-date=February 4, 2022|date=January 2009 |isbn=978-1-57912-773-2 |language=en}}</ref>
== Personal life == Wright is a native of Indianapolis, Indiana<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Wright|first1=Kai|title=Saving Ourselves; The State of AIDS in Black America and What We're Doing About It|last2=Gerald|first2=Gil|publisher=Black AIDS Institute|year=2008|location=Los Angeles, California}}</ref> and lives in Brooklyn, New York.<ref name=":2"/>
== Bibliography == === Black AIDS Institute Publications === * 2005 The Time Is Now! * 2006 AIDS in Blackface: 25 Years of an Epidemic * 2006 The Way Forward: The State of AIDS in Black America * 2008 Saving Ourselves: The State of AIDS in Black America * 2008 Left Behind! Black America: A Neglected Priority in the Global AIDS Epidemic<ref>{{Cite web|title=A black plague: a new report says blacks are hit hardest by AIDS|url=https://theworld.org/stories/2008-08-06/black-plague-new-report-says-blacks-are-hit-hardest-aids|access-date=November 12, 2021|website=The World from PRX|date=August 14, 2013 |language=en}}</ref> * 2011 AIDS: 30 Years Is Enuf! The History of the AIDS Epidemic in Black America, 2011
=== Prose and other projects === * Drifting Toward Love: Black, Brown, Gay Coming of Age on the Streets of New York * The African American Experience: Black History and Culture Through Speeches, Letters, Editorials, Poems, Songs, and Stories<ref name=":1" /> * Soldiers of Freedom: An Illustrated History of African Americans in the Armed Forces<ref>{{Cite web|title=Kai Wright {{!}} ColorLines|url=https://www.colorlines.com/authors/kai-wright|access-date=October 29, 2021|website=www.ColorLines.com|archive-date=October 25, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211025064602/https://www.colorlines.com/authors/kai-wright}}</ref> * ''The African American Experience: Black History and Culture Through Speeches, Letters, Editorials, Poems, Songs, and Stories''. (Editor)<ref name=":2" />
== Awards == * National Association of Black Journalists 2005 Salute to Excellence - Winner ** "AIDS Goes Gray" LeRoy Whitfield (posthumously), Kai Wright City Limits magazine * 18th GLAAD Media Awards (2007), Outstanding Digital Journalism Article - nominee ** "Is Fear the Best Way to Fight AIDS?" Kai Wright TheNation * Randy Shilts Award 2009 ** Drifting Toward Love: Black, Brown, Gay Coming of Age on the Streets of New York * 21st Lambda Literary Award 2009 for Nonfiction - finalist ** Drifting Toward Love: Black, Brown, Gay Coming of Age on the Streets of New York * National Association of Black Journalists 2012 Salute to Excellence - Winner<ref>{{Cite web|last=National Association of Black Journalists|year=2012|title=2012 Salute to Excellence Winners|url=https://www.nabj.org/page/STEWinners2012|access-date=February 3, 2022|website=National Association of Black Journalists}}</ref> ** Digital Media – Single Story: News - "Deadly Secrets: How California Law Shields Oakland Police Violence" Ali Winston, Esther Kaplan, Kai Wright - ColorLines * Peabody Award<ref>{{Cite web |title=Blindspot: The Plague in the Shadows |url=https://peabodyawards.com/award-profile/blindspot-the-plague-in-the-shadows/ |access-date=May 20, 2025 |website=The Peabody Awards |language=en-US}}</ref> 2024 ** Blindspot: The Plague in the Shadows
==References== {{reflist}}
== External links == * [https://twitter.com/kai_Wright Personal Twitter Account]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Kai}} Category:20th-century African-American writers Category:20th-century American journalists Category:20th-century American male writers Category:20th-century births Category:21st-century African-American writers Category:21st-century American journalists Category:21st-century American male writers Category:21st-century American non-fiction writers Category:American activist journalists Category:American HIV/AIDS activists Category:American male non-fiction writers Category:American male novelists Category:American podcasters Category:Living people Category:Year of birth missing (living people)