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 CityPaper.
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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2019 saw kinder, gentler reality TV in both the U.S. and the U.K. Some say it's a response to nasty politics and nasty old reality TV.
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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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Order a drink, but hold the bartender? As it becomes relatively more expensive to run restaurants and bars, some are saving money by replacing human servers with pour-your-own electronic taps.
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Fifty years ago Thursday, a perfect television family introduced themselves to American audiences. The TV classic The Brady Bunch was not a hit, but it endures.
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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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New York City welcomes the U.S. women's national soccer team after their World Cup win with a ticker tape parade on Wednesday.
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At MADmagazine'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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The Italian director staged sumptuously visualized operas, which often resembled Renaissance paintings brought to life. On film, he brought Shakespearean and biblical tales to the big screen.
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Entertainment companies say they may not do business in Georgia if a restrictive abortion law takes effect. In 2016, Georgia overtook California as the state with the most feature films produced.
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William Goldman wrote the scripts for more than 30 movies, including Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid, All the President's Men and The Princess Bride.