Katherine "Kate" J. Boo is an American investigative journalist renowned for her exceptional work documenting the lives of people in poverty. She was born on August 12, 1964. Boo has been recognized with numerous accolades, including the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship in 2002, the National Book Award for Nonfiction in 2012, and the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for her work with The Washington Post.

Since 2003, she has been a staff writer for The New Yorker magazine. Her acclaimed book "Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity" has won several nonfiction prizes, including awards from PEN, the Los Angeles Times Book Awards, the New York Public Library, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters.