 Hessler left China in 2007 and settled in Ridgway, Colorado and has continued to publish articles in "The New Yorker" on topics including the Peace Corps in Nepal and small towns in Colorado.In October 2011, Hessler and his family moved to Cairo, where he has been covering the Middle East for "The New Yorker".In an interview upon being named a MacArthur Fellow in September 2011, Hessler expressed his intention to spend much of the next year learning Arabic.