Ken Kolb is the author of Retail Inequality: Reframing the Food Desert Debate, which was a finalist for a 2023 James Beard Foundation book award in the category of “food issues and advocacy” and was the winner of the 2023 book prize awarded by the Association for the Study of Food and Society.

Ever since returning from the Peace Corps to finish his Ph.D. in Sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Ken Kolb has spent the past 20 years conducting community-based research. He analyzes social problems with the goal of proposing practical solutions that harness readily available resources.

By conducting in-depth interviews and spending time with neighborhood groups, Kolb seeks to empower the people he studies by providing them with the data they need to convince policymakers to take their complaints seriously.

Ken Kolb is an expert on social inequality, community development, and pragmatic solutions to persistent social problems.

He is currently conducting research for his next book about the Mississippi River, shipping, and the Port of New Orleans

Honors & Awards

• 2023, Finalist, James Beard Foundation Nonfiction Book Award
• 2023, Winner, Book Prize, Association for the Study of Food and Society
• 2023, Honorable Mention, Book Award, American Sociological Association's Section on Consumers and Consumption
• 2015, Winner, Book Award, American Sociological Association's Section on Social Psychology

Education

• Ph.D., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• M.A., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• B.A., Bates College