diff --git a/clients/urwid/main.py b/clients/urwid/main.py
index fa343a3..0f0c942 100644
--- a/clients/urwid/main.py
+++ b/clients/urwid/main.py
@@ -594,17 +594,23 @@ class App(object):
         ]
 
         infoline = "%d replies; active %s" % (
-            thread["reply_count"], self.timestring(thread["last_mod"], "delta"))
+            thread["reply_count"],
+            self.timestring(thread["last_mod"], "delta"))
 
+        last_author = self.usermap[thread["last_author"]]
         pile = [
             urwid.Columns([(3, urwid.AttrMap(button, "button", "hover")), title]),
             urwid.Text(dateline),
-            urwid.AttrMap(urwid.Text(infoline), "dim"),
+            urwid.Text(("dim", infoline)),
+            urwid.Text([
+                ("dim", "last post by "),
+                (str(last_author["color"]), "~" + last_author["user_name"])
+            ]),
             urwid.AttrMap(urwid.Divider("-"), "dim")
         ]
 
         if self.prefs["index_spacing"]:
-            pile.insert(3, urwid.Divider())
+            pile.insert(4, urwid.Divider())
 
         pile = urwid.Pile(pile)
         pile.thread = thread
diff --git a/dbupdate.py b/dbupdate.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..717feb1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dbupdate.py
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+import sqlite3
+
+with sqlite3.connect("data.sqlite") as _con:
+    _con.execute('ALTER TABLE threads ADD COLUMN last_author text DEFAULT ""')
+    _con.commit()
+    for tid in _con.execute("SELECT thread_id FROM threads"):
+        author = _con.execute("SELECT author FROM messages WHERE thread_id = ? ORDER BY post_id", tid).fetchall()[-1]
+        _con.execute("UPDATE threads SET last_author = ? WHERE thread_id = ?", author + tid)
+    _con.commit()
diff --git a/schema.sql b/schema.sql
index 7bd61f2..c5816f1 100644
--- a/schema.sql
+++ b/schema.sql
@@ -22,7 +22,8 @@ create table threads (
   last_mod real,    -- floating point unix timestamp (of last post or post edit)
   created real,     -- floating point unix timestamp (when thread was made)
   reply_count int,  -- integer (incremental, starting with 0)
-  pinned int        -- boolean
+  pinned int,       -- boolean
+  last_author text  -- uuid string
 );
 
 
diff --git a/server.py b/server.py
index aa88cdd..d20432f 100644
--- a/server.py
+++ b/server.py
@@ -87,24 +87,25 @@ def api_method(function):
     return wrapper
 
 
-def create_usermap(connection, obj):
+def create_usermap(connection, obj, index=False):
     """
     Creates a mapping of all the user_ids that occur in OBJ to
     their full user objects (names, profile info, etc). Can
     be a thread_index or a messages object from one.
     """
-
+    user_set = {item["author"] for item in obj}
+    if index:
+        [user_set.add(item["last_author"]) for item in obj]
     return {
         user_id: db.user_resolve(
             connection,
             user_id,
             externalize=True,
             return_false=False)
-        for user_id in {item["author"] for item in obj}
+        for user_id in user_set
     }
 
 
-
 def validate(json, args):
     """
     Ensure the json object contains all the keys needed to satisfy
@@ -206,7 +207,7 @@ class API(object):
         Requires no arguments.
         """
         threads = db.thread_index(database)
-        cherrypy.thread_data.usermap = create_usermap(database, threads)
+        cherrypy.thread_data.usermap = create_usermap(database, threads, True)
         return threads
 
 
diff --git a/src/db.py b/src/db.py
index 7fd0fd5..1050e6a 100644
--- a/src/db.py
+++ b/src/db.py
@@ -106,11 +106,12 @@ def thread_create(connection, author_id, body, title, send_raw=False):
     thread_id = uuid1().hex
     scheme = schema.thread(
         thread_id, author_id, title,
-        now, now, -1, False) # see below for why i set -1 instead of 0
+        now, now, -1, # see below for why i set -1 instead of 0
+        False, author_id)
 
     connection.execute("""
         INSERT INTO threads
-        VALUES (?,?,?,?,?,?,?)
+        VALUES (?,?,?,?,?,?,?,?)
     """, schema_values("thread", scheme))
     connection.commit()
     # the thread is initially commited with reply_count -1 so that i can
@@ -147,9 +148,10 @@ def thread_reply(connection, author_id, thread_id, body, send_raw=False, time_ov
     connection.execute("""
         UPDATE threads SET
         reply_count = ?,
+        last_author = ?,
         last_mod = ?
         WHERE thread_id = ?
-    """, (count, now, thread_id))
+    """, (count, author_id, now, thread_id))
 
     connection.commit()
     return scheme
diff --git a/src/schema.py b/src/schema.py
index 7044c37..aedb765 100644
--- a/src/schema.py
+++ b/src/schema.py
@@ -128,7 +128,8 @@ def thread(
         last_mod,     # floating point unix timestamp (of last post or post edit)
         created,      # floating point unix timestamp (when thread was made)
         reply_count,  # integer (incremental, starting with 0)
-        pinned):      # boolean
+        pinned,       # boolean
+        last_author): # uuid string
 
     return {
         "thread_id":   thread_id,
@@ -137,7 +138,8 @@ def thread(
         "last_mod":    last_mod,
         "created":     created,
         "reply_count": reply_count,
-        "pinned":      bool(pinned)
+        "pinned":      bool(pinned),
+        "last_author": last_author
     }
 
 
diff --git a/src/utils.py b/src/utils.py
index c533112..dbe4789 100644
--- a/src/utils.py
+++ b/src/utils.py
@@ -22,7 +22,8 @@ def schema_values(scheme, obj):
     elif scheme == "thread":
         return ordered_keys(obj,
             "thread_id", "author", "title",
-            "last_mod", "created", "reply_count", "pinned")
+            "last_mod", "created", "reply_count",
+            "pinned", "last_author")
 
     elif scheme == "message":
         return ordered_keys(obj,