Albert Samaha

Albert Samaha is an American journalist. He was previously inequality editor at Buzzfeed News and currently works as an investigative reporter in sports at the Washington Post. He is the author of two books, Never Ran, Never Will and Concepcion (2021).

Early life and education Samaha was born in Vallejo, California. His mother was born and raised in a wealthy family in the Philippines. Samaha's father is Lebanese, and met his mother in Saudi Arabia when she was a flight attendant. Samaha's father lived in Paris; his parents divorced when he was a child.

Samaha lived in Manila for kindergarten and then spent the rest of his childhood in northern California. His family moved frequently, living in cities including San Francisco, San Mateo, and Sacramento. He left the football team after two years and switched his focus to journalism.

Career Samaha worked at alt weeklies in his early career, including Riverfront Times, San Francisco Weekly, and the Village Voice, where he covered criminal justice and learned the fundamentals of investigative reporting. He spent two years of time with the players and coaches to prepare the manuscript. and Samaha won the 2019 New York Society Library Hornblower Award.

Samaha published an essay for Buzzfeed News on the election of Rodrigo Duterte that informed the direction of his second book, a memoir called Concepcion: Conquest, Colonialism, and an Immigrant Family's Fate.

In April 2023 he lost his job when BuzzFeed laid off 15% of the company staff and shut down Buzzfeed News. Samaha joined the Washington Post as an investigative reporter for the sports section in July 2023.

Accolades 2018 – Winner, AudioFile Earphones Award (for Never Ran, Never Will audiobook) 2019 – Winner, Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grant 2019 – Finalist, PEN/ESPN Literary Sports Writing Award (for Never Ran, Never Will) 2019 – Winner, New York Society Library Hornblower Award (for Never Ran, Never Will)

Books