Maria Balinska

Maria Balinska (born 1960) is an American journalist and author who is the Executive Director of the US-UK Fulbright Commission.

Born in New Jersey, US, Balinska joined the Fulbright Commission after serving as part of the launch team for The Conversation, later the Managing Editor and subsequently Editor-in-Chief.

Balinska attended 10 schools in five countries before attending Princeton University. According to her, she became interested in journalism after the fall of Communism, reporting on the transformation of Poland as a freelance journalist. She spent a decade as a radio producer and then Editor World Current Affairs at BBC. In 2010 she was a Nieman Fellow.

In 2011, she founded Latitude News. In 2008 she published The Bagel, which presents a history of the bagel, tracing its roots from ancient Rome to Poland to its flourishing in America.

Books

 * The Bagel: The Surprising History of a Modest Bread: Maria Balinska, Yale University Press, 2009, ISBN 9780300158205