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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Every year, musicians across the country gather for what has become known as TubaChristmas — concerts range from just a few tubas to hundreds of them. (The record is 835.) -
Every year, the Librarian of Congress selects 25 movies to be added to the National Film Registry. This year, the list included Home Alone and The Nightmare Before Christmas. -
The 1973 movie The Wicker Man helped kick off the subgenre known as "folk horror." The film, about a sinister pagan ritual on a remote Scottish island, has scared horror fans for five decades. -
The actor, whose Hollywood prospects have been dimmed by accusations of assault, is currently facing a six-person jury in a Manhattan courtroom. -
Shane MacGowan was a famously hard-drinking but brilliant musician who shot to fame in the 1980s with the folk punk band The Pogues. -
With a plum role as Marvel villain, Jonathan Majors' stardom seemed certain, until an alleged altercation with a girlfriend derailed his Hollywood career. The actor's trial has started in New York. -
CBS first aired the televised holiday special in 1973. The message still shines, but some characters and scenes feel a little dated. -
Around 250 young playwrights wrote and submitted work as part of the annual contest, Enough! Plays to End Gun Violence. Six were chosen as finalists and had their work performed. -
After half a century, The Exorcist is still considered one of the scariest movies ever made. But one priest says it's a movie deeply concerned with faith, and responding to evil. -
Jonathan Majors was arrested after an alleged domestic dispute in March. The Creed III actor pleaded not guilty to four counts. His trial has been rescheduled.
