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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There are 25 new additions to the Library of Congress collection. They include albums by Elton John, Miles Davis, Amy Winehouse, and the original cast recording of Hamilton. -
Joanie Madden founded the Celtic supergroup Cherish The Ladies. She tells us about what she calls "March Madness" for Irish musicians and the song that's most meaningful for her to play this year.
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It's well known that President Trump is a devotee of professional wrestling. Pundits often describe his moves in the White House in wrestling terms: smackdowns, cage fights and so on. We ask how the wrestling world may be informing his second term.
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Malinda Russell's A Domestic Cookbook was first published in 1866. It contains least a hundred recipes for sweets, plus recipes for shampoo and cologne – and remedies for toothaches. -
The Library of Congress preserved recordings from Marine Corp combat correspondents at Iwo Jima that included interviews with soldiers, music and the sounds of war. -
Satirical cartoonist, playwright and screenwriter Jules Feiffer has died at the age of 95. He was the illustrator of the children's classic "The Phantom Tollbooth."
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2025 will be the last time you can buy Girl Scout S'mores and Toast-Yay! cookies. They join the ranks of many other discontinued flavors — RIP Mango Cremes with Nutrifusion and cheesy Golden Yangles. -
Trend watchers predict some of the foods and flavors of 2025 will include sour cherry, pistachio and masa, the corn-based dough that's a Central American staple. (Story aired on ATC on Jan. 2, 2025.)
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Many of the most-borrowed books in 2024, including 'romantasy' titles and memoirs, also appeared on public library lists in 2023. -
Americans making fun of fruitcake is a holiday tradition. But a Canadian pastry chef and master food preserver would like us to reconsider our assumptions. (Story aired on ATC on Dec. 23, 2024.)
