About Us
Our Mission
Columbia Global Reports is a nonprofit publishing imprint from Columbia University that commissions authors to produce works of original thinking and on-site reporting from all over the world, on a wide range of topics.
Our books are short—novella-length, and readable in a few hours—but ambitious. They offer new ways of looking at and understanding the major issues of our time.
Most readers are curious and busy. Our books are for them.
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What makes CGR different?
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We invest in our authors
CGR covers research and travel costs as our authors develop their books, and we continue to invest in raising their profiles once the books are published.
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We help get things started
CGR has published several authors’ first books, including Atossa Araxia Abrahamian, Margaret Sullivan, and Krithika Varagur. We’re proud of our role in helping to launch these writers’ careers, and we can’t wait to see what’s next.
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We get it right
CGR fact-checks every book—a step most publishers don’t take.
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We’re consistent
All CGR books share the same format: short paperbacks, purposefully designed to be portable and quick to read.
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Where can I get CGR books?
Our books are on sale at your local bookshop or wherever books are sold.
Including: - How can I support CGR?
It’s CGR’s tenth anniversary! 🎉
Out in front on underreported issues for ten years and counting
“Columbia Global Reports fills a unique niche with timely, deeply reported and argued short books on big issues that are just around the corner. We don't just publish books. We use books to start continuing conversations about topics that weren't getting the attention they deserved until we took them on.”
—Nicholas Lemann, director of Columbia Global Reports
“Nick Lemann and I started Columbia Global Reports to make sure that important, and often underreported, stories receive the attention they deserve. Since then, the imprint has consistently been out in front on the issues of the moment with publications on topics like net neutrality, pop culture, fracking, politics, and so many more. I am very proud of what Nick and his team have accomplished and eager to see what comes next.”
—Lee C. Bollinger, president emeritus of Columbia University
Our History
Columbia Global Reports was founded in 2015 by Columbia University president emeritus Lee C. Bollinger, and dean emeritus of Columbia Journalism School Nicholas Lemann, with a mission to increase coverage of important, globally-focused stories often neglected by under-funded and under-staffed newsrooms.
CGR started within Columbia University’s Office of the President as a small team of three: Nicholas Lemann as director, Jimmy So as editor, and Camille McDuffie as publisher. In 2024, Camille retired and Jaime Leifer joined CGR as publisher.
Since 2023, CGR has been part of Columbia Journalism School, which helps us further our mission to invest in great journalism and bring underreported issues to light.
Read Columbia Journalism Review’s coverage of the launch of CGR
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