In 1990, he was invited to teach creative writing, literature, and screenwriting at Eastern Washington University, and moved to the United States.

The Irish Times called the book "a searing invocation of modern Africa,"[2] and The Guardian wrote, "All is trembling on the edge of breakdown, yet the writing stays cool; the effect is of a quiet delirium.

The New York Times called A Girl From Zanzibar a "brilliantly prescient novel",[9] and O Magazine said "a steady beat of danger pursues the adventurous, money-hungry heroine of Roger King’s intriguing new novel…King is no slouch at weaving global politics into his narrative, from shifty banking to arms dealing, but at heart Marcella’s quest is a traditional but profound one.

[11] King's newly completed book, an autobiographical novel, titled Love and Fatigue in America, was published in March 2012.

[19] King was executive producer of the feature documentary Still, The Children Are Here, made in collaboration with Mira Nair and Dinaz Stafford.

Projects ranged from rice farming and policy in Liberia, resettling ex-guerillas in Zimbabwe, jute in Bangladesh, facilitating popular participation projects, adult literacy, women's savings and microcredit in Sierra Leone, Liberia, The Gambia and Zambia, large scale regional economic development in Pakistan, to evaluating the decollectivisation of agriculture in Inner Mongolia, China.

Recent international work has included alternative Global Future Scenarios for the World Bank Strategy Department and Afghanistan reconciliation and reconstruction proposals for UN agencies.