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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Longtime documentary filmmaker Ofra Bikel has died at 94. Her films for the PBS series 'Frontline' in the 1990s contributed to the release of 13 wrongfully incarcerated people.
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Delon starred in more than 80 movies over six decades, including such classics as "Le Samouraï" and "The Leopard." He was 88. -
Actress Gina Rowlands has died. She collaborated with husband John Cassavetes on nearly a dozen films. -
A chef in New Orleans is bringing two grilling traditions from opposite ends of the world together on one plate.
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James Baldwin died in 1987. Baldwin & Co. is a Black-owned bookstore and community hub in New Orleans. "His literature, his perspective, his insight ... have changed my life," says owner DJ Johnson. -
NPR staff recommend 6 new novels for summer reading: "How to End a Love Story," "Victim," "The Women," "A Short Walk Through a Wide World," "Birding with Benefits" and "Swift River."
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The Caesar salad was invented at a hotel in Tijuana, Mexico, on July 4, 1924, to feed hungry American tourists. We've been enjoying it in various incarnations ever since.
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Robert Towne, whose Oscar-winning work established him as one of the leading screenwriters of the so-called "new Hollywood," died Monday. He was 89.
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The Caesar salad was invented at a hotel in Tijuana, Mexico, on July 4, 1924, to feed hungry American tourists. We've been enjoying it in various incarnations ever since. -
A woman on TikTok asked: What is a sundress? Ten million views later, the debate is still raging. -
Gardens are blooming across the country, and while you’ll likely see plenty of roses and brightly-colored zinnias on porches and patios this summer, one much-hyped trend is very, very dark. -
Archivists at the University of Houston have saved decades-worth of episodes of local LGBT radio shows that started in the 1970s. Together they tell the story of a complex, diverse community.
