about
Lewis Raven Wallace (they/ze/he) is an award-winning independent journalist based in Durham, North Carolina. He’s the author of The View from Somewhere: Undoing the Myth of Journalistic Objectivity (University of Chicago Press, 2019), and the host of The View from Somewhere podcast, distributed by Critical Frequency. His new book Radical Unlearning is out in October 2025 from Beacon Press.
He currently holds a position as the Abolition Journalism Fellow at Interrupting Criminalization, a movement resource hub founded by Mariame Kaba and Andrea Ritchie, where he works to bridge the gap between journalistic and abolitionist practice and praxis and build community among journalists who desire an end to the violence of policing and prisons
Lewis is a 2022 Camargo Foundation Fellow, a 2021 Ford Global Fellow, a 2020 Knight Visiting Nieman Fellow at Harvard University’s Nieman Journalism Lab, a 2019 Heidrich Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Michigan Labadie Collection, a 2019 Marguerite Casey Foundation Poverty Reporting Fellow, a 2017 New Economies Reporting Fellow, a 2015 AIR New Voices Fellow, and a 2013 Metcalf Institute Fellow. In 2018, he cofounded Press On, a southern movement journalism collective where he also served as the Director of Education until 2022.
After many years as a barista and crusty punk, he began his journalism career in 2012 as a Pritzker Journalism Fellow at WBEZ/Chicago Public Media, and then moved to WYSO in southwest Ohio, and finally Marketplace in New York, where he joined the on-air team for the Marketplace Morning Report with David Brancaccio. His radio features have aired extensively on NPR’s Morning Edition, All Things Considered, Marketplace, and On the Media, where he has also appeared as a fill-in host. His freelance print journalism has appeared in Scalawag Magazine, Nieman Reports, Columbia Journalism Review, Environmental Health News, Rewire, and Art21.
Since 2017, Lewis has developed an extensive public platform for his work, speaking about “objectivity” and journalism to dozens of national and local outlets including the Washington Post, the New York Times, and On the Media. He’s appeared as a guest speaker at Columbia Journalism School, Amherst, CalArts, the University of Toronto, the University of South Carolina, the New School, the NewsGuild of New York, Georgetown University, the University of Missouri School of Journalism, Northwestern’s Medill Journalism School, Emerson, Denison, Colorado College, Yale, Stanford, and USC’s Annenberg School, to name some of them, and his work has been required reading for journalism graduate and undergraduate programs across the counry.
In addition to his work as a journalist, Lewis is a long-time activist engaged in prison abolition, racial justice, and queer and trans liberation. He gives frequent workshops on topics including journalism beyond objectivity, legacies of resistance in journalism, and challenging copaganda. He is white and transgender, and was born and raised in the Midwest with deep roots in the South. When he’s not working, he plays the accordion, writes poetry, and spends time with his pig, Dogwood Daffodil, and his dog, Francis Ivolene.
fellowships, awards and honors
Ford Global Fellow (2021-2022)
Member of U.S. cohort for the Ford Global Fellowship, which supports leaders challenging the root causes of inequality internationally.
Nieman Visiting Journalism Fellow, Harvard University (2020)
Attended a five-week residency at the Nieman Journalism Lab to study “movement journalism.”
William P. Heidrich Research Fellow, University of Michigan (2018)
Recipient of the inaugural research fellowship in the Labadie Collection at University of Michigan for research on the history of "objectivity" in reporting on queer and trans communities.
New Economies Reporting Fellow (2017)
Recipient of a reporting grant from the Media Consortium to cover new economies for Scalawag Magazine.
Public Radio News Directors Incorporated: Best Long Documentary (2017)
Awarded first place (small station) for long documentary for "Women's Voices from Dayton Correctional Institution," a series produced with women incarcerated in a local state prison.
Radio Television Digital News Association Edward R. Murrow Award for Best Documentary (2016)
Awarded regional prize for “A Matter of Seconds,” a radio documentary about Black Lives Matter in Ohio.
AIR New Voices Fellowship (2016)
Participated in Association for Independents' in Radio fellowship for individuals with a goal of diversifying public media.
Public Radio News Directors Incorporated: Best Use of Sound and Broadcast Writing (2015)
Awarded first place (small station) for use of sound, and second place for broadcast writing.
Ohio Associated Press: Best Journalist, Broadcast Writing, Feature Reporting and Continuing Coverage (2015)
Awarded first place (Radio II) for best journalist and best broadcast writing. Produced as well as edited features and spots for first-place best feature and best continuing coverage awards.
Public Radio News Directors Incorporated: Best Continuing Coverage and Feature Reporting (2014)
Awarded first place (small station) for continuing coverage, and second place for news feature.
Ohio Society of Professional Journalists: Best Feature and Health Care Feature (2014)
Awarded first place (all radio) for feature reporting and health care feature, and second place for spot news.
Metcalf Institute Science Immersion Workshop for Journalists (2013)
Studied science journalism for a week with the prestigious Metcalf Institute.
Institutes for Journalism and Natural Resources Mining Country Institute (2013)
Studied mining and environmental reporting for a week in upper Michigan and Wisconsin.
Pritzker Journalism Fellowship (2012-2013)
Participated in competitive fellowship designed to train community workers in media skills at WBEZ/Chicago Public Media.
Academic honors
Graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa (Northwestern, 2010)
Received Northwestern University 2010 Perry Award for Best Undergraduate Paper in Religion for The Bearded Woman on the Cross: St. Uncumber and Medieval Women’s Religious Devotion