George Lerner completed his debut novel, THE AMBASSADORS during a varied career as television news producer for CNN, PBS and other networks , covering stories in the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, Vietnam and across the United States. He lives in Brooklyn.

 

In developing the novel, he attended the Tin House Summer Writers Workshop, where he worked with Tin House Editor Rob Spillman, and novelist Karen Shepard, as well as the New York State Summer Writers Institute, where he studied with novelist Joanna Scott.

 

George holds a Bachelors degree in Anthropology from the Johns Hopkins University. After graduation, he attended a journalism internship with The Nation magazine, spent one year as a reporter for United Press International in Cairo, Egypt, and then completed a Masters degree from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He worked as a reporter for Reuters through the mid-1990s, covering financial crises in the Latin America and East Asia.

 

Joining CNN in 1999, he spent many years as a field producer for CNN’s New York newsgathering division. He also produced for CNN anchor Christiane Amanpour in 2009-2010 on her eponymous program, including an Emmy-nominated interview with Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and an interview with Rwandan President Paul Kagame.

 

As an independent documentary producer, George traveled to the Democratic Republic of Congo to shoot a piece for PBS Frontline World on the country’s historic 2006 elections, the first democratic vote in more than three decades. The people whose voices ring through “Congo: Hope on the Ballot” -- human rights advocates, the victims of violence, political campaigners, and Congolese citizens of many ethnicities -- helped to inform THE AMBASSADORS.

 

While working on the novel, he attended the New York State Summer Writers Institute and the Tin House Summer Writers Workshop.