Anuj Chopra is an award-winning journalist working on a nonfiction book about Saudi Arabia, a profile of the kingdom in the age of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Currently a Washington, DC-based reporter for Agence France-Presse, Chopra was a 2022 Knight-Bagehot Fellow and Dart Center Ochberg Fellow at Columbia University. In addition to being AFP’s inaugural disinformation correspondent, he also assists with coverage of international crises such as the Ukraine conflict and the Israel-Hamas war. From 2017 to 2021, he served as AFP’s Riyadh bureau chief, covering Saudi Arabia and reporting extensively from neighboring war-torn Yemen. Prior to that, he spent two and a half years as AFP’s Kabul bureau chief. Chopra began working for AFP in 2011 in Hong Kong as an editor at the agency’s Asia-Pacific headquarters, a stint that included assignments in Syria, Afghanistan, and Myanmar. He has written for outlets such as The Atlantic, Time, The Economist, Foreign Policy, and The Washington Post.
Chopra has won several prizes for his work, including the Walid El-Gabry Memorial Award, the CNN Young Journalist Award, the Society of Publishers in Asia Award, the Human Rights Press Award, and the Ramnath Goenka Award for Excellence in Journalism.
Selected Work
- ‘The Godfather, Saudi-style’: inside the palace coup that brought MBS to power: This award-winning longread in The Guardian chronicles the behind-the-scenes power struggles that fueled the dramatic rise of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
- Feasts in Land of Famine: This personal essay, published by Agence France-Presse, explores the stark juxtaposition of abundance and famine-like conditions witnessed during multiple reporting trips across Yemen.
- My Colleagues Died Reporting in Afghanistan. And yet the work must be done.: This piece in The Atlantic is a tribute to fallen colleagues, highlighting the enduring power of on-the-ground reporting.
- A Rush For Firearms In Wartime Israel: This Agence France-Presse report from Jerusalem examines the surge in personal gun ownership in wartime Israel.
- Ukraine's Dilemma: Rebuilding In Midst Of War: This Agence France-Presse report from Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, a hellscape of shell-pocked buildings and devastated neighborhoods, explores the daunting challenge of rebuilding as Russian bombardment continues unabated.