Neda Ulaby
Neda Ulaby reports on arts, entertainment, and cultural trends for NPR's Arts Desk.
Scouring the various and often overlapping worlds of art, music, television, film, new media and literature, Ulaby's stories reflect political and economic realities, cultural issues, obsessions and transitions.
A twenty-year veteran of NPR, Ulaby started as a temporary production assistant on the cultural desk, opening mail, booking interviews and cutting tape with razor blades. Over the years, she's also worked as a producer and editor and won a Gracie award from the Alliance for Women in Media Foundation for hosting a podcast of NPR's best arts stories.
Ulaby also hosted the Emmy-award winning public television series Arab American Stories in 2012 and earned a 2019 Knight-Wallace Fellowship at the University of Michigan. She's also been chosen for fellowships at the Getty Arts Journalism Program at USC Annenberg and the Knight Center for Specialized Journalism.
Before coming to NPR, Ulaby worked as managing editor of Chicago's Windy City Times and co-hosted a local radio program, What's Coming Out at the Movies. A former doctoral student in English literature, Ulaby has contributed to academic journals and taught classes in the humanities at the University of Chicago, Northeastern Illinois University and at high schools serving at-risk students.
Ulaby worked as an intern for the features desk of the Topeka Capital-Journal after graduating from Bryn Mawr College. But her first appearance in print was when she was only four days old. She was pictured on the front page of the New York Times, as a refugee, when she and her parents were evacuated from Amman, Jordan, during the conflict known as Black September.
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A painting of George Washington is being used by the Trump administration to argue the founders were devout Christians, but historians have doubts about whether the moment depicted actually happened. -
Eleven historically significant sites across the country will receive $25,000 from the National Trust for Historic Preservation to commemorate the country's 250th anniversary. -
For Mother's Day, we bring to you a consideration of motherhood by a poet who's brought up two sons.
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President Trump wants to paint the Eisenhower Executive Office Building white, but experts and preservationists are pushing back, warning it could permanently damage the historic granite.
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Friday the 13th comes in both February and March this year, bringing scary movies with it. Does releasing horror movies on the scariest day of the year bring a bump at the box office?
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More than a thousand people signed up for auditions in hopes of becoming an extra in the upcoming opera of "The Handmaid's Tale" in Detroit.
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From pandan to fibermaxxing, a look at the food trends experts are predicting for 2026.
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The Academy awards will be broadcast on Youtube beginning in 2029. It's a big change for Hollywood's biggest awards show, which draws millions of international viewers.
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Before its fall from grace, chop suey was a holiday tradition for families who don't celebrate Christmas, even being immortalized in songs and film. -
Jiffy corn muffins are an iconic, low-cost pantry staple introduced during the Depression. Thanksgiving is peak season for the company, which has been run by the same family for five generations.
