Elaine Sciolino

Her new book, "The Seine: The River That Made Paris" was published in October 2019. She is the author of four previous books, including “The Only Street in Paris: Life on the Rue des Martyrs,” a New York Times best seller. In 2010, she was decorated a chevalier of the Legion of Honor, the highest honor of the French state, for her “special contribution” to the friendship between France and the United States.

In 2019, Sciolino became a member of the Executive Committee of Reporters Without Borders, the Paris-based international advocacy organization promoting freedom of information and freedom of the press.

Ms. Sciolino began her journalism career as a researcher at Newsweek in New York, later becoming national correspondent in Chicago, foreign correspondent in Paris, bureau chief in Rome and roving international correspondent. She was the Edward R. Murrow Press Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in 1982-1983, the first woman to receive that honor.

She joined The New York Times in 1984, where she has held a number of posts, including United Nations bureau chief, Central Intelligence Agency correspondent, culture correspondent and chief diplomatic correspondent — the first woman to hold that post.

Her 2000 book, “Persian Mirrors: The Elusive Face of Iran,” received several awards. She has been awarded several honorary doctorate degrees, most recently from the University of London. Ms. Sciolino lives in Paris with her husband, Andrew Plump, an attorney. They have two daughters, Alessandra and Gabriela Plump.