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 , as a refugee, when she and her parents were evacuated from Amman, Jordan, during the conflict known as Black September.
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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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Trend watchers predict that some of the foods and flavors of 2025 will include sour cherry, pistachio, and masa, the corn-based dough that's been a Central American staple for centuries.
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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. -
Every year, we remember some of the writers, actors, musicians, filmmakers and performers who died over the past year, and whose lifetime of creative work helped shape our world. -
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.)
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For generations of Americans, making fun of fruitcake has been a holiday tradition. But a Canadian pastry chef and master food preserver would like us to reconsider our assumptions. -
Every year, the National Film Registry picks 25 movies to be preserved for posterity by the Library of Congress. This year's crop also includes Beverly Hills Cop, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and more. -
Long before the new movie "Wicked" made a sympathetic character of the Wicked Witch of the West, she was played by actress Margaret Hamilton in the classic film, The Wizard of Oz. But it was not easy being green. (This story first aired on All Things Considered on November 28, 2024.)
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Long before the new movie Wicked made a sympathetic character of the Wicked Witch of the West, she was played by actress Margaret Hamilton in the classic film, The Wizard of Oz.
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Dubai chocolate bars are kind of like KitKats, but stuffed with pistachio nuts and aromatic pistachio nougat. Foodies used to have to order the confections from Dubai — now they are everywhere.
