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 radio and online stories reflect political and economic realities, cultural issues, obsessions and transitions, as well as artistic adventurousness— and awesomeness.
Over the last few years, Ulaby has strengthened NPR's television coverage both in terms of programming and industry coverage and profiled breakout artists such as Ellen Page and Skylar Grey and behind-the-scenes tastemakers ranging from super producer Timbaland to James Schamus, CEO of Focus Features. Her stories have included a series on women record producers, an investigation into exhibitions of plastinated human bodies, and a look at the legacy of gay activist Harvey Milk. Her profiles have brought listeners into the worlds of such performers as Tyler Perry, Ryan Seacrest, Mark Ruffalo, and Courtney Love.
Ulaby has earned multiple fellowships at the Getty Arts Journalism Program at USC Annenberg as well as a fellowship at the Knight Center for Specialized Journalism to study youth culture. In addition, Ulaby's weekly podcast of NPR's best arts stories. Culturetopia, won a Gracie award from the Alliance for Women in Media Foundation.
Joining NPR in 2000, Ulaby was recruited through NPR's Next Generation Radio, and landed a temporary position on the cultural desk as an editorial assistant. She started reporting regularly, augmenting her work with arts coverage for D.C.'s Washington City Paper.
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. Her film reviews and academic articles have been published across the country and internationally. For a time, she edited fiction for The Chicago Review and served on the editing staff of the leading academic journal Critical Inquiry. Ulaby taught classes in the humanities at the University of Chicago, Northeastern Illinois University and at high schools serving at-risk students.
A former doctoral student in English literature, Ulaby worked as an intern for the features desk of the Topeka Capital-Journal after graduating from Bryn Mawr College. She was born in Amman, Jordan, and grew up in the idyllic Midwestern college towns of Lawrence, Kansas and Ann Arbor, Michigan.
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Attendance at Philadelphia's Penn Museum has shot up since the Global Guides first tours in 2018. The refugee and immigrant docents receive training in archaeology, ancient history and story-telling.
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The very earliest movies were all long takes, but the immersive minimalism of one-shot films carry extra appeal in an era of congested platforms and CGI overload.
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As half of Roxette, Fredriksson was one of Sweden's most notable pop exports, selling tens of millions of albums and garnering several hit songs.
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TV networks have standards that minimize tobacco use on shows, and Netflix now does, too. But streaming companies lack public policies about smoking cannabis onscreen, and doctors say that hurts kids.
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At MAD magazine's peak in the early 1970s, its circulation peaked at more than 2 million. The magazine will shift to printing collections of old content and end-of-year specials with new material.
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From TV series to cookbooks to cannabis-infused menus at upscale restaurants, pot cuisine is becoming an increasingly lucrative niche — and state and local laws are struggling to catch up.
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Harvey Weinstein turned himself into the New York Police Department Friday after spending months attempting to deflect multiple investigations into sexual abuse. But how does this surrender mark real change, legally and culturally?
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Food from the frozen aisle accounts for only about 6 percent of grocery store sales — and that percentage has seen some declines over the past few years. The deli section, however, keeps expanding.
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Kasell brought unflappable authority to the news, but he also had a lively sense of humor, revealed late in his career when he became the judge and scorekeeper for Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!
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The 2018 Pulitzer Prizes were announced Monday. Kendrick Lamar joined the staffs of The New York Timesand The Washington Postalong with the rest of this year's winners.