Transom Talk Special Guests Bios

Tony Kahn

Tony Kahn

Tony Kahn brings many award-winning talents to his duties on The World, the PRI/BBC international news magazine produced at WGBH in Boston. Kahn serves as alternate host and special correspondent and writes, produces and hosts "Tony Kahn's Journal." A regular feature of The World, "Tony Kahn's Journal" looks beyond the headlines to explore cultural, political and scientific topics of importance, often using as a focal point remarkable individuals whose stories offer a unique perspective on the issue. The World is heard by more than one million and a quarter listeners each week on public radio stations across the country, as well as in parts of Africa, Europe and Asia.

Kahn has written, produced, narrated and hosted more than 50 radio and television programs and series for the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), National Public Radio (NPR), Nickelodeon, A&E, Monitor Radio, and Boston television stations WGBH and WCVB. He was most recently acclaimed for his public radio series Blacklisted, which chronicled the Hollywood blacklisting of his screenwriter father Gordon Kahn during the McCarthy era.

In addition to his work with The World, Kahn is a regular panelist on WGBH/NPR's weekly witty word game show, Says You! He has been a regular commentator for Public Radio International's Marketplace and NPR's Morning Edition.

Kahn's broadcast work has received 12 New England Emmys, a National Emmy nomination, six Gold Medals of the New York International Festival, an Ohio State Award, the Edward R. Murrow Award for Feature Reporting, the A.I.R. Radio Award for Radio Interviewing, and the Grand Award for Radio Drama from the New York International Festival. Several of his documentaries have been screened at film festivals throughout the US; other works, including three plays and five screenplays, have received notable recognition. In addition, Kahn has received a Writer's Guild of America Screenwriting Fellowship.

Prior to his work in broadcasting, Kahn was a Russian scholar and translator and published four books of translations of Russian poetry, biography and fiction. He graduated Magna cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Harvard University and holds a Master's Degree in Slavic Studies from Columbia University.

Highlights from Tony Kahn's Topic