A British writer, journalist, editor and university lecturer based in Warsaw, Poland.

I have lived and worked in Poland for more than 25 years, covering politics, society, history, migration, security and international affairs across Central and Eastern Europe.

I hold a PhD in Government from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), where my research focused on nationalism, identity and political change in post-communist Europe. I have also taught journalism, politics and international relations at universities in Poland and the United Kingdom.

As a journalist, I have reported for international media including Deutsche Welle (DW), Anadolu Agency, Politico Europe and the BBC, and numerous other international and Polish publications. My work has focused particularly on Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, European politics, borders, migration and democratic change.

Between 2016 and 2021 I worked as a staff journalist for Deutsche Welle in Bonn and Warsaw, covering global business and Polish and European affairs for international audiences. Since then I have continued working as an independent reporter, commentator and editor.

My writing explores the intersections of politics, memory, identity, borders and everyday life. Alongside academic and journalistic work, I have extensive experience editing books, academic publications, policy reports, business communications and international projects for universities, NGOs, public institutions and private clients.

Selected works

• Jo Harper, Notes from the EU’s Eastern Edge,’ published by Amsterdam University Press (2025).
• Jo Harper,Our man in Warszawa: How the West misread Poland, published by The Central European University Press (2021)
• Jo Harper,Poland’s Illiberal Revolution, published by The Central European University Press, (2018)
• Jo Harper, Nieliberalna rewolucja w Polsce, Wydawnictwo Naukowe Scholar, Warszawa (2020)
• Jo Harper,Polens Streit um die Erinnerung. Essays zur Illberalität, Tectum Verlag (2018)
• Popielska-Grzybowska J., Harper J.B., Językowo-kulturowy obraz domu (home) we współczesnym angielskim brytyjskim, w: Leksykon Aksjologiczny Słowian i ich sąsiadów, t. DOM, red. J. Bartmiński, I. Bielińska-Gardziel, B. Żywicka, Lublin 2015.

See my books here:

 Selected journal publications

• Jo Harper, ‘Negating negation: Civic Platform and the Law and Justice Party’s Struggle over “Polishness”’. Problems of Post- Communism (University of Washington, USA), August 2010.
• Jo Harper, ‘Which Blair Project? Pamięć jako narzędzie legitymizacji politycznej: przykład „Nowej Partii Pracy”’, Konteksty, 2003, nr 3-4 (262-263).
• Popielska-Grzybowska J., Harper J.B., Językowo-kulturowy obraz domu (home) we współczesnym angielskim brytyjskim, w: Leksykon Aksjologiczny Słowian i ich sąsiadów, t. DOM, red. J. Bartmiński, I. Bielińska-Gardziel, B. Żywicka, Lublin, 2015.

Selected editing

• Henryk Szlajfer, Capitalism as Hassliebe: Werner Sombart (1863–1941) (Walter de Gruyter, 2025).
• Joanna Popielska-Grzybowska, Everything as One. A linguistic view of the ancient Egyptian Creator in the Pyramid Texts (Warsaw – Wiesbaden 2020).
• Henryk Szlajfer, Jews and New Christians in the Making of the Atlantic World in the 16th-17th Centuries (Scholar, Warsaw 2018). 
• Henryk Szlajfer, Economic Nationalism and Globalization. Lessons from Latin America and Central Europe ( Haymarket Books, 2012).
• Ed.Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, POLIN: 1000-Year History of Polish Jews. A Guide (POLIN, 2014).
• The Institute of Mediterranean and Oriental Cultures of the Polish Academy of Sciences, publisher of academic books in the fields of archaeology, culture and religion, publishing ten monograph series and three journals, including Hemispheres. Studies on Cultures and Societies, 2010-2025.
• Universität Leipzig. Sächsische Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig (Monika Zin, Prof. Dr. phil. habil.)

Education

• London School of Economics and Political Science PhD, politics. 1999 
• Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland (1996-1997) PhD, fieldwork. 
• University of Bristol 1989 – 1990: MSc. Hons International Relations
• London University, BSc. Hons Sociology & Economics (City) 1986-1989

Testimonies

I work in English and Polish.

Through Shoot the Breeze, I bring together journalism, writing, conversation, teaching and storytelling in a single space dedicated to curiosity, dialogue and encounters across cultures.