Quil Lawrence
Quil Lawrence is a New York-based correspondent for NPR News, covering veterans' issues nationwide. He won a Robert F. Kennedy Award for his coverage of American veterans and a Gracie Award for coverage of female combat veterans. In 2019 Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America honored Quil with its IAVA Salutes Award for Leadership in Journalism.
Lawrence started his career in radio by interviewing con men in Tangier, Morocco. He then moved to Bogota, Colombia, and covered Latin America for NPR, the BBC, and The LA Times.
In the Spring of 2000, a Pew Fellowship sponsored his first trips to Iraq — that reporting experience eventually built the foundation for his first book, Invisible Nation: How the Kurds' Quest for Statehood is Shaping Iraq and the Middle East (Bloomsbury, 2009).
Lawrence has reported from throughout the Arab world and from Sudan, Cuba, Pakistan, Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank. He covered Iraq and Afghanistan for twelve years, serving as NPR's Bureau Chief in Baghdad and Kabul. He covered the fall of the Taliban in 2001, the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the second battle of Fallujah in 2004, as well as politics, culture, and war in both countries.
In 2012, Lawrence returned to the U.S. to cover the millions of men and women who have served at war, both recently and in past generations. NPR is possibly unique among major news organizations in dedicating a full-time correspondent to veterans and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
A native of Maine, Lawrence studied history at Brandeis University, with concentrations in the Middle East and Latin America. He is fluent in Spanish and conversant in Arabic.
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The government is settling a case that will grant billions in debt relief to students, many of them veterans, who say unscrupulous colleges cheated them into overpaying for useless degrees.
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The Senate voted on a $280 billion package of care for veterans exposed to toxins from agent orange in Vietnam. It's a rare moment of bipartisan action and the largest expansion of VA care in history.
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A bill known as the PACT Act, which will lend health care services and disability benefits to veterans exposed to toxic substances, looks likely to become law next month.
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Authorities are still trying to answer all the questions why a gunman killed 10 people at a Buffalo supermarket over the weekend. The shootings by the self-avowed racist have rattled the community.
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The Buffalo neighborhood that was attacked by a white supremacist has struggled for years with violence and poverty. Calls by politicians for the community to come together were met with skepticism.
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Yesterday, 10 people were killed and three wounded in a mass shooting in a Buffalo supermarket that appears to have been racially motivated. The shooter is in custody.
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The countries share a border. Along the frontier, residents say a new barrier has disrupted everything from Arctic climate action and nuclear waste control to trade and cross-border sports leagues. -
Troops from 27 countries wrapped up one of the largest NATO war games since the 1980s — in the Arctic. Russia's war in Ukraine made the exercise feel like more than a game.
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Police in New York City say they're not sure why a man boarded a subway car during rush hour Tuesday morning and fired 33 times. Authorities have arrested Frank R. James but they don't know a motive.
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The changed relations between Putin's Russia and Europe are having ripple effects along Russia's border with the EU, including in a town that had prided itself on good relations with Russia.
