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Siddharth Kara

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Indian author

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Siddharth Kara
Born
Knoxville, Tennessee, U.S.
Education
OccupationsAuthor, professor

Siddharth Kara is a New York Times-bestselling author who has been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. He is a former British Academy Global Professor and has held academic positions at Harvard University, University of California Berkeley, and the University of Nottingham. He is best known for his books Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives (2023) and The Zorg: A Tale of Greed and Murder That Inspired the Abolition of Slavery (2025). He has also published a trilogy on modern slavery: Sex Trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery (2009), Bonded Labor: Tackling the System of Slavery in South Asia (2012), and Modern Slavery: A Global Perspective (2017).

Education and early career

Kara received a BA in English and Philosophy from Duke University. While at Duke University, Kara co-founded the Duke Refugee Action Project, which was the precursor to the Hart Leadership Program at the Sanford School of Public Policy.[1] The project was set up to enable students to volunteer in Bosnian refugee camps in the former Yugoslavia. He and a few other students obtained a grant from the university, learned basic Bosnian, and procured placements from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to volunteer at camps in the region.[2]

Kara worked as an investment banker at Merrill Lynch in New York City for several years, during which time he was involved in some of the firm's largest mergers and acquisitions and equity financing transactions.[3]

He received an MBA from Columbia University. After graduating, he embarked on the first of several long self-funded journeys across the world to research contemporary slavery and child labor.[4] He later received a law degree from the BPP Law School in London.[5]

Research and writing

Kara's research travels have taken him to more than fifty countries across six continents.[6][7]

The Zorg (2025)

The Zorg: A Tale of Greed and Murder That Inspired the Abolition of Slavery (2025) is a history of the 18th century slave ship Zorg massacre. The book corrects errors in the historical accounts of the massacre and reveals new details that had not been previously known. The Zorg also charts the first movement to abolish slavery in England that was inspired by a court case about the massacre.

The Zorg has been named to the New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2025;[8] Time Magazine 100 Must Read Books of 2025;[9] and The New Yorker Best Books of 2025.[10] It was a finalist for the PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction[11] and the Silver Gavel Award from the American Bar Association.[12]

The Zorg audiobook, narrated by Dion Graham, was also a finalist for Audible Audiobook of the Year in two categories, nonfiction and history.[13]

The Zorg was runner-up for the 2026 Mark Lynton History Prize awarded by the Columbia Journalism School and the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University, [14] and it was also Longlisted for the 2026 HWA Crown Award for best history book.[15]

Cobalt Red (2023)

In January 2023, Kara's non-fiction book Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives was released by St. Martin's Press and debuted on the New York Times Bestseller List.[16] Cobalt Red is the first-ever book to investigate human rights and environmental abuses involving the mining of cobalt in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[17]

Kara has appeared in the media to talk about the human rights abuses involved with cobalt mining, including on The Joe Rogan Experience,[18] Fresh Air,[19] CNN,[20] Fox News,[21] and ABC News.[22]

Cobalt Red was a finalist for the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction,[16] a finalist for the 2024 PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction,[23] shortlisted for the 2023 Financial Times Business Book of the Year Award,[24] named to the NY Times list of 100 Notable Books for the 2023,[25] named to the New Yorker list of Best Books for the 2023,[26] listed as one of the Best Books of 2023 by Goodreads,[27] and named one of the Top 16 Books of 2023 by WIRED.[28]

Modern Slavery: A Global Perspective (2017)

Kara's third non-fiction book on contemporary slavery, Modern Slavery: A Global Perspective, was released by Columbia University Press in October 2017. The book had its launch at the United Nations, and has been lauded by experts in the field, including Luis CdeBaca, former U.S. Ambassador-at-Large to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, and Swanee Hunt, former U.S. Ambassador to Austria.[7]

Bonded Labor: Tackling the System of Slavery in South Asia (2012)

Kara's second non-fiction book on contemporary slavery, Bonded Labor: Tackling the System of Slavery in South Asia, was released by Columbia University Press in October 2012. The book focuses on the system of bonded labor, encompassing roughly six out of every ten slaves in the world. Its geographic focus is South Asia, covering such industries as hand-woven-carpet making, tea and rice farming, construction, brick manufacture, and frozen-shrimp production.[29]

The book received high commendations from scholars, activists, non-profit organizations and governments, and was covered as part of a three part series on the CNN International primetime news program Connect the World with Becky Anderson.[30][31]

Sex Trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery (2009)

Kara's first non-fiction book on contemporary slavery, Sex Trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery, was published by Columbia University Press in January 2009. The book won the 2010 Frederick Douglass Book Prize, given to a nonfiction book on the subject of slavery and/or abolition movements.[32]

The book has been recommended by the Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.[33] It has been lauded by academics, policy-makers, and the press, with the Financial Times describing it as an "eloquent and campaigning book",[34] and slavery experts heralding it as "groundbreaking"[33] and the "best book yet on the enduring problem of modern-day slavery".[35]

Media

Kara has appeared extensively in the media as an expert on modern slavery, including appearances on The Joe Rogan Experience,[18] Fresh Air,[19] CNN,[20] Fox News,[21] ABC News,[22] and CNBC.[citation needed]

Kara is a regular contributor to The CNN Freedom Project: Ending Modern Day Slavery, CNN's initiative to expose modern-day slavery around the world and highlight the efforts being made to eradicate it.[36]

Academia

British Academy and University of Nottingham, UK

In the summer of 2020, Kara was one of 10 experts and scholars awarded a Global Professorship by the British Academy.[37] As part of the program he began an associate professor position with the Rights Lab and the School of Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Nottingham in October 2020.[38]

Kara's Global Professorship culminated in the August 2025 publication of the report Blood Batteries: The Human Rights and Environmental Impacts of Cobalt Mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[39]

Harvard University

In the fall of 2009, Kara became the first Fellow on Human Trafficking with the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.[40] In the spring of 2012, Kara taught the first course on human trafficking at the Harvard Kennedy School. He also accepted a joint appointment as a visiting scientist on forced labor at the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard School of Public Health.[41] In the spring of 2013, Kara became an adjunct lecturer in public policy at the Kennedy School.[42]

University of California, Berkeley

In the spring of 2016, Kara became a lecturer on global poverty at the Blum Center for Developing Economies at the University of California, Berkeley, teaching the same course on slavery and trafficking that he taught later in the year at Harvard University.[43]

Personal

Kara spends his time between Los Angeles and London. He is married to neuroscientist Aditi Shankardass.[citation needed]

References

  1. ^ Martinek, Stephanie (11 October 2011). "Siddharth Kara, Hart Leadership Alumnus, to Speak on Human Trafficking this Thursday". Duke Hart Leadership Program. Retrieved 9 August 2026.
  2. ^ Kara, Siddharth (2009). Sex Trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery. Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-13960-1.
  3. ^ "Meet Pulitzer Finalist Siddharth Kara, the Acclaimed Authority on American Slavery—Old and New". American Kahani. 16 October 2025. Retrieved 9 August 2026.
  4. ^ "The Business of Sex Trafficking | The Leonard Lopate Show". WNYC Studios. 8 January 2009. Retrieved 9 August 2026.
  5. ^ IRONCLAD Clips (4 March 2024). What Siddharth Kara Saw Inside Cobalt Mining Camps in The Congo. Retrieved 9 August 2026 – via YouTube.
  6. ^ "Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery". UCLA International Institute. Retrieved 9 August 2026.
  7. ^ a b "Modern Slavery". Columbia University Press.
  8. ^ "Notable Books of 2025". The New York Times. 24 November 2025.
  9. ^ "The 100 Must-Read Books of 2025: The Zorg". Time. 12 November 2025.
  10. ^ "The New Yorker's Best Books of 2025". The New Yorker. 24 December 2025.
  11. ^ "50 Finalists Named for 2026 PEN America Literary Awards". PEN America. 29 January 2026. Retrieved 9 August 2026.
  12. ^ "ABA names 2026 finalists for Silver Gavel Awards for Media and the Arts". American Bar Association. 11 March 2026. Retrieved 9 August 2026.
  13. ^ Tagen-Dye, Carly (29 January 2026). "Cher, Tina Knowles and Kate McKinnon Among 31st Audie Award Finalists — See the Full List! (Exclusive)". People. Retrieved 29 January 2026.
  14. ^ "danah boyd, Karim Zidan, Jeff Hobbs, William Dalrymple Named Winners of the 2026 J. Anthony Lukas Prize Project". Columbia Journalism School. 3 August 2026. Retrieved 9 August 2026.
  15. ^ "The 2026 HWA Crown Awards longlistsJ". Historia Magazine. 16 September 2026. Retrieved 16 September 2026.
  16. ^ a b "2024 Prize Winners and Finalists". The Pulitzer Prizes. Retrieved 9 August 2026.
  17. ^ "Cobalt Red". Macmillan Publishers. Retrieved 9 August 2026.
  18. ^ a b Clark, Jeffrey (24 December 2022). "Joe Rogan guest Siddharth Kara reveals dark side of cobalt". New York Post. Retrieved 30 May 2025.
  19. ^ a b Gross, Terry (1 February 2023). "How 'modern-day slavery' in the Congo powers the rechargeable battery economy". NPR. Retrieved 9 August 2026.
  20. ^ a b Kara, Siddharth (17 December 2021). "Our device-driven lives depend more than ever on tragedy in the Democratic Republic of Congo". CNN. Retrieved 9 August 2026.
  21. ^ a b Carnahan, Ashley (30 January 2023). "Human rights activist warns of abuses in Congo cobalt mines: 'Moral clock dialed back to colonial times'". Fox News. Retrieved 9 August 2026.
  22. ^ a b Adams, Phillip (8 February 2023). "The bloody truth about cobalt mining in the Congo and how it powers our lives". ABC listen. Retrieved 9 August 2026.
  23. ^ "PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction". PEN America. Retrieved 9 August 2026.
  24. ^ "FT Business Book of the Year Award shortlist". Books+Publishing. 4 October 2023. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
  25. ^ "100 Notable Books of 2023". The New York Times. 21 November 2023. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 9 August 2026.
  26. ^ "The Best Books of 2023". The New Yorker. 25 January 2023. Retrieved 9 August 2026.
  27. ^ "Announcing the Winners of the 2023 Goodreads Choice Awards!". Goodreads. Retrieved 9 August 2026.
  28. ^ Knibbs, Kate (22 December 2023). "The 16 Best Books of 2023". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 9 August 2026.
  29. ^ "Bonded Labor". Columbia University Press.
  30. ^ Kara, Siddharth (15 October 2012). "Bonded labor stretches from third to first world". The CNN Freedom Project. Archived from the original on 19 October 2012. Retrieved 9 August 2026.
  31. ^ Kara, Siddharth (16 October 2012). "Shrimp exports to West tied to bonded labor". The CNN Freedom Project. Archived from the original on 19 October 2012. Retrieved 9 August 2026.
  32. ^ "2010 Frederick Douglass Prize". MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies at Yale. Retrieved 9 August 2026.
  33. ^ a b "Sex Trafficking". Columbia University Press.
  34. ^ "Sex Trafficking". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 11 January 2026. Retrieved 9 August 2026.
  35. ^ Burkhalter, Holly (Winter 2009). "An Unconscionable Business". SSIR. Retrieved 9 August 2026.
  36. ^ Exposing slavery in the colbalt industry. CNN. Retrieved 9 August 2026.
  37. ^ "International expert in modern slavery joins the Rights Lab as BA Global Professor". University of Nottingham. 17 July 2020. Retrieved 9 August 2026.
  38. ^ "Mr Siddharth Kara". The British Academy. Retrieved 9 August 2026.
  39. ^ "New report highlights extent of forced labour in cobalt mines in the Congo". University of Nottingham. 6 August 2025. Retrieved 9 August 2026.
  40. ^ "Carr Center for Human Rights Policy". Harvard Kennedy School. Archived from the original on 12 December 2009.
  41. ^ "Faculty, Staff & Affiliates". François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health & Human Rights. Archived from the original on 24 May 2012.
  42. ^ "New Faculty Feature: Adjunct Lecturer Siddharth Kara". Harvard Kennedy School. 26 July 2013. Archived from the original on 26 September 2013.
  43. ^ Bernardo, Sarah (10 February 2016). "'Are These Kinds of Things Still Happening?' Siddharth Kara on Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery". Blum Center. Retrieved 9 August 2026.
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