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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An old-fashioned steam calliope designed by luminaries in the worlds of art and jazz is on display at the National Sculpture Garden.
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Mama's boy has been viewed as an emasculating insult. But numerous men are now publicly embracing their identities as proud mama's boys. (Story first aired on Weekend Edition Sunday on May 7, 2022.)
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Artist Phung Huynh incorporates pink donut boxes into her portraits of young Cambodian-Americans who grew up in their family donut stores in Southern California.
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Imagine Robert Redford or Ernest Borgnine as the Godfather. On the 50th anniversary of the film, the author of Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli describes the movie that could've been.
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Wired headphones are among the artifacts from the past decade making recent "nostalgic" comebacks. Fashion once moved in 20 year cycles but the nostalgia loop is getting smaller and faster,
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The American Library Association handed out nearly two dozen awards for kids' books this week. We look at some of the winners.
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Sea shanties, the word "cheugy," feta pasta and "RushTok" were all fleeting internet obsessions over the past year. But what do such "garbage trends" say about our cultural condition?
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An evocative museum exhibition from a legendary electronic musician and naturalist encourages audiences to connect with nature through a "great animal orchestra."
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David Bowie, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Stevie Nicks and Shakira all recently sold off all or part of their back catalogs. Why forgo future royalties and creative control?
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Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan and Stevie Nicks are among the artists who have sold off all or part of their back catalogs. Why are they forgoing future royalties and creative control over their songs?