The New Yorker Radio Hour

Rhiannon Giddens, Americana’s Queen, on Cultivating the Black Roots of Country Music

02 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

By the standards of any musician, Rhiannon Giddens has taken a twisting and complex path. She was trained as an operatic soprano at the prestigious Ob...

Alicia Keys Returns to Her Roots with Her New Musical, “Hell’s Kitchen”

29 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Alicia Keys’ new musical is opening on Broadway about a ten-minute walk from where she grew up in Hell’s Kitchen. She describes the New York City ...

Percival Everett and the Reinvention of Mark Twain’s Jim

26 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In a new novel, Percival Everett offers a radically different perspective on the classic story “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.”  Everett tel...

Trump’s Authoritarian Pronouncements Recall a Dark History

22 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In 2016, before most people imagined that Donald Trump would become a serious contender for the Presidency, the New Yorker staff writer Adam Gopnik wr...

March Madness 2024: College Basketball at a Crossroads

19 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

As this year’s annual March Madness tournament kicks off, there’s a sense of malaise around men’s college basketball. The advent of the transfer...

Judith Butler Can’t “Take Credit or Blame” for Gender Furor

15 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A legal assault on trans rights by conservative groups and the Republican Party is escalating, the journalist Erin Reed reports, with nearly five hund...

In “Great Expectations,” Vinson Cunningham Watches Barack Obama’s Rise Up Close

12 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Like most Americans, Vinson Cunningham first became aware of Barack Obama in 2004, when he gave a breakout speech at the Democratic National Conventio...

Bradley Cooper Contends for Best Actor in “Maestro”

08 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

“Maestro,” about the legendary conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein, is nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, as well as...

What Biden Is Thinking About the 2024 Election

02 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Despite hand-wringing among Democrats about Joe Biden’s age and his discouraging poll numbers, the President’s campaign for reëlection displays a...

Kara Swisher on Tech Billionaires: “I Don’t Think They Like People”

01 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Kara Swisher landed on the tech beat as a young reporter at the Washington Post decades ago. She would stare at the teletype machine at the entrance a...

Lily Gladstone on Holding the Door Open for More Native Actors in Hollywood. Plus, the Brody Awards

27 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Lily Gladstone had been in several films, but unknown to most moviegoers, when she got a call for Martin Scorsese’s period drama “Killers of a Flo...

Ty Cobb on Trump, Putin, and the Death of Alexey Navalny

23 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Ty Cobb represented the Trump White House during the height of the Mueller-Russia probe, so he has a unique insight into the former President’s admi...

For Brontez Purnell, “Memoir Is Fiction—I Don’t Care What Anyone Says”

20 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Brontez Purnell is a Renaissance man. He’s a musician, a dancer, a filmmaker, and the author of a number of books. His latest is “Ten Bridges I’...

“Pod Save America” ’s Jon Lovett on Trump: “The Threat of Jail Time Sharpens the Mind”

16 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Jon Lovett had been deep inside politics, as a speechwriter in the Obama Administration, before he joined his colleagues Tommy Vietor and Jon Favreau ...

Jacqueline Novak Is Giving Audiences “Everything She’s Got”

13 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The comedian Jacqueline Novak wasn’t well known before her Netflix début “Get on Your Knees.” The show was a big swing in her career, an ambiti...

Can Memes Swing the 2024 Election? Plus, Michelle Zauner on “Crying in H Mart”

09 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In a Presidential race with two leading candidates who are broadly unpopular, any small perceived edge can make a tremendous difference. According to ...

Sheila Heti Talks with Parul Sehgal About “Alphabetical Diaries”

06 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The writer Sheila Heti is known for unusual approaches, but her latest work is decidedly experimental. Heti “is one of the most interesting novelist...

Jonathan Blitzer on the Battle over Immigration; and Olivia Rodrigo Talks with David Remnick

02 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In the shadow of another election year, Democrats and Republicans are at a bitter crossroads over immigration, as the system becomes increasingly unma...

From In the Dark: The Runaway Princesses

31 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The wives and daughters of Dubai’s ruler live in unbelievable luxury. So why do the women in Sheikh Mohammed’s family keep trying to run away? The...

For Journalists, “Gaza Is Unprecedented,” and Deadly

29 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Journalism has often been a dangerous business, and many reporters have lost their lives reporting the news from conflict zones.  But the rules that ...

The Oscar Nominee Cord Jefferson on Why Race Is so “Fertile” for Comedy

26 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The writer and director Cord Jefferson has struck gold with his first feature film, “American Fiction.” Nominated for five Academy Awards, includi...

Pramila Jayapal: Biden’s “Coalition Has Fractured”

23 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Pramila Jayapal, a Democratic representative and leader of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, has been sounding the alarm about President Joe Biden...

E. Jean Carroll on Trump Defamation Cases: “Money Is Precious to Him”

19 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

After winning the Iowa caucuses by a historic margin, Donald Trump made his way to a courtroom in New York, where a jury was selected in a second defa...

Danielle Brooks Comes Full Circle in “The Color Purple”

16 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

“I think of ‘The Color Purple’ as the epic of our time,” Doreen St. Félix said in a conversation with the actress Danielle Brooks.  While St...

How Donald Trump Broke the Iowa Caucuses and Owns the G.O.P.

12 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This time last year, Republicans were reeling from a poorer-than-expected performance in the 2022 midterm elections; many questioned, again, whether i...

From “Talk Easy”: Sam Fragoso Interviews David Remnick

10 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

As host of The New Yorker Radio Hour, David Remnick asks a lot of questions, and recently he had to answer quite a few himself, sitting for a long int...

Ava DuVernay Wants Her Film “Origin” to Influence the 2024 Election

08 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The filmmaker Ava DuVernay has a reputation for tackling challenging material about America’s troubled past. She depicted the bloody fight to achiev...

How the Journalist John Nichols Became Another January 6th Conspiracy-Theory Target

05 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The veteran political reporter John Nichols was taking his daughter to the orthodontist on January 6, 2021, the fateful day when the transfer of Presi...

The Poet John Lee Clark’s “How to Communicate” Brings DeafBlind Experience to the Page

02 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Although many hearing and sighted people imagine DeafBlind life in tragic terms, as an experience of isolation and darkness, the poet John Lee Clark’...

Dexter Filkins Reports on the Border Crisis

29 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Dexter Filkins has reported on conflict situations around the world, and recently spent months reporting on the situation at the U.S.-Mexico border. I...

From Critics at Large: The Year of the Doll

26 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This bonus episode comes from The New Yorker’s Critics at Large podcast.In the highest-grossing movie of 2023, Barbie, a literal doll, leaves the co...

Bruce Springsteen Has a Gift He Keeps on Giving

22 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

At seventy-four, Bruce Springsteen has been cementing his status as a rock-and-roll legend for almost fifty years: he released his widely heralded, bu...

Christmas in Tehran: Bringing the Holidays to Hostages

19 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In 1979, as Christmas approached, the United States Embassy in Tehran held more than fifty American hostages, who had been seized when revolutionaries...

A Harrowing Detention in Gaza

15 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Growing up in Gaza, Mosab Abu Toha wasn’t used to seeing Israeli soldiers in person. “You are bombed from the sky. You are bombed by tanks. You do...

Brandy Clark: Grammy-Nominated Album Is “Authentically Me”

12 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

As an aspiring artist, Brandy Clark found herself in love with the craft of songwriting, as some of her peers were working on their image and presenta...

Liz Cheney: Donald Trump Should Go to Jail if Convicted

08 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Liz Cheney has been Republican royalty, and a conservative stalwart in Washington—a daughter of former Vice-President Dick Cheney and culture warrio...

How Did Our Democracy Get so Fragile?

05 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

We’re in the midst of another election season, and yet again American democracy hangs in the balance, with a leading Presidential candidate who has ...

Dolly Parton “Busted a Gut” Reaching for the High Notes on “Rockstar”

01 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

After six decades as an icon in country music, it’s hard to imagine Dolly Parton had anything to prove.  But when she was inducted into the Rock & ...

“Maestro” is the “Scariest Thing I’ve Ever Done”

24 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

As a child, Bradley Cooper would mime conducting an orchestra, and he asked for a baton from Santa. Decades later, as a filmmaker, he fulfilled his ch...

Geoffrey Hinton: “It’s Far Too Late” to Stop Artificial Intelligence

21 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The American public’s increasing fascination with artificial intelligence—its rapid advancement and ability to reshape the future—has put the co...

A Rise in Antisemitism, at Home and Abroad

17 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt is a noted historian of antisemitism, and serves the State Department as Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism....

Emerald Fennell’s Anatomy of Desire

14 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

For the follow-up to her acclaimed and controversial début feature film, “Promising Young Woman,” the writer and director Emerald Fennell (also w...

Will the Government Put the Reins on Amazon?

10 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In a relatively short period of time, Amazon has exerted an enormous amount of influence over a broad spectrum of American life. From the groceries we...

From “On the Media”: David Remnick Talks with Brooke Gladstone About Reporting in Israel

08 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

As Israel marks one month since the deadliest terrorist attack in its history, David Remnick sits down with Brooke Gladstone, the host of the podcast ...

Is a “Win-Win” Still Possible in Policing?

07 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

As the Black Lives Matter movement brought sustained national attention to police shootings of unarmed Black people, there have been many efforts made...

Sybrina Fulton: “Trayvon Martin Could Have Been Anybody’s Son”

03 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Sybrina Fulton was thrust into the national spotlight just over a decade ago for the worst possible reason: her son, Trayvon Martin – an unarmed tee...

From On the Media: We Don’t Talk About Leonard Leo

31 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In a new miniseries from “On the Media,” “We Don’t Talk About Leonard,” the ProPublica reporters Andrea Bernstein, Andy Kroll, and Ilya Marr...

Is there a Path Forward for Gaza and Israel?

27 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

After returning from a week of reporting in Israel, David Remnick has two important conversations about the conflict between Israelis and Arabs both i...

”Fellow Travelers”: A Showtime Series Explores a Forgotten Witch Hunt

24 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Much of the peril and persecution of the McCarthy era is well-trodden territory in historical dramas, but the burden that the Red Scare placed on the ...

Spike Lee on His “Dream Project,” a Joe Louis Bio-Pic

20 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The director Spike Lee looked back at the length and breadth of his career so far during a sit-down with David Remnick at the New Yorker Festival. Alt...

Rodrigo Duterte’s Deadly Promise

17 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

When Rodrigo Duterte ran for the presidency of the Philippines and won, in 2016, the Western press noted the similarities between this unconventional ...

Werner Herzog Defends His “Ecstatic” Approach to the Truth

13 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The renowned German filmmaker Werner Herzog has become known for many things: his notoriously ambitious film productions like “Fitzcarraldo” and “...

Rubén Blades Wasn’t Supposed to Be a Salsa Star

10 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

For roughly half a century, the singer Rubén Blades has been spreading the gospel of salsa music to every corner of the globe, but his status as an m...

Al Gore on the Climate Crisis: “We Have a Switch We Can Flip”

06 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Despite months of discouraging news about extreme weather conditions, the former vice-president Al Gore still believes that there is a solution to the...

Introducing Critics at Large: The Myth-Making of Elon Musk

04 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this bonus episode, the hosts of Critics at Large dissect Walter Isaacson’s new biography of Elon Musk, asking how it reflects ideas about power,...

Should Biden Push for Regime Change in Russia?

03 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Throughout the Russian invasion of Ukraine, David Remnick has talked with Stephen Kotkin, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution who is deeply info...

Olivia Rodrigo Talks with David Remnick

29 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Being called the voice of a generation might seem a little off to someone born after the millennium. But Olivia Rodrigo’s songs clearly hit home for...

Hernan Diaz’s “Trust,” a Novel of High Finance

26 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The daughter of eccentric aristocrats marries a Wall Street tycoon of dubious ethics during the Roaring Twenties. That sounds like a plot that F. Scot...

Kelly Clarkson on Writing About Divorce

22 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Twenty years after her breakout on “American Idol,” Kelly Clarkson released an album called “Chemistry” that deals with the long arc of a rela...

Naomi Klein Speaks with Jia Tolentino about “Doppelganger”

19 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

For twenty-some years, Naomi Klein has been a leading thinker on the left. She’s especially known for the idea of disaster capitalism: an analysis t...

A Solution For the Chronically Homeless, and Listening to Taylor Swift in Prison

15 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

About 1.2 million people in the United States experience homelessness in a given year—you could nearly fill the city of Dallas with the unhoused. Bu...

Richard Brody Makes the Case for Keeping Your DVDs

12 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

At the end of this month, after more than two decades, Netflix is phasing out its DVD-rental business. While that may not come as a surprise given the...

A Master Class with David Grann

08 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

David Grann is a staff writer for The New Yorker and the author of two nonfiction books that topped the best-seller list this summer: “The Wager” ...

Alone and on Foot in Antarctica

05 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Henry Worsley was a husband, father, and an officer of an élite British commando unit; also a tapestry weaver, amateur boxer, photographer, and colle...

No More Souters

01 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

David Souter is one of the most private, low-profile Justices ever to have served on the Supreme Court. He rarely gave interviews or speeches. Yet his...

How Does Extreme Heat Affect the Body?

29 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The Korey Stringer Institute at the University of Connecticut was named after an N.F.L. player who died of exertional heatstroke. The lab’s main res...

The Origins of “Braiding Sweetgrass”

25 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Robin Wall Kimmerer is an unlikely literary star. A botanist by training—a specialist in moss—she spent much of her career at the State University...

Tessa Hadley on What Decades of Failure Taught Her About Writing

22 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The New Yorker first published a short story by Tessa Hadley in 2002. Titled “Lost and Found,” it described a friendship between two women who had...

Talking to Conservatives about Climate Change

18 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Even in a summer of record-breaking heat and disasters, Republican Presidential candidates have ignored or mocked climate change. But some conservativ...

The Novelist Esmeralda Santiago on Learning to Write After a Stroke

15 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The author Esmeralda Santiago has been writing about Puerto Rico and questions of immigration and identity since the early nineties. But, in 2008, she...

Will the End of Affirmative Action Lead to the End of Legacy Admissions?

11 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The practice of legacy admissions—preferential consideration of the children of alumni—has emerged as a national flash point since the Supreme Cou...

James McBride on His New Novel, “The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store”

08 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

James McBride’s new novel, “The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store,” centers on the discovery of a skeleton at the bottom of a well in a small town in...

Emily Nussbaum on the Culture Wars in Country Music

04 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Last month, the country singer Jason Aldean released a music video for “Try That in a Small Town,” a song that initially received little attention...

A Trip to the Boundary Waters

01 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Alex Kotlowitz is known as a chronicler of Chicago, and of lives marred by urban poverty and violence. His books set in the city include “An America...

Regina Spektor on “Home, Before and After”

28 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Twenty years ago, Regina Spektor was yet another aspiring musician in New York, lugging around a backpack full of self-produced CDs and playing at lit...

Colson Whitehead on “Crook Manifesto”

25 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Colson Whitehead is one of the most lauded writers working today. His 2016 novel “The Underground Railroad” won the National Book Award and the Pu...

Adapting Robert Oppenheimer’s Story to Film, Plus Greta Gerwig on Becoming a Director

21 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In making “Oppenheimer,” which opens in theatres this weekend, the director Christopher Nolan relied on a Pulitzer Prize-winning 2005 biography of...

Donovan Ramsey on “When Crack Was King”

18 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

“When people think of the crack epidemic, they think of crime,” the journalist Donovan X. Ramsey tells David Remnick. “But they don’t necessar...

A Mysterious Third Party Enters the Presidential Race

14 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

No Labels, which pitches itself as a centrist movement to appeal to disaffected voters, has secured a considerable amount of funding and is working be...

How to Buy Forgiveness from Medical Debt

11 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Nearly one in ten Americans owe significant medical debt, a burden that can become crippling as living costs and interest rates rise. Over the past de...

The Conspiracies of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

07 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the son of a former Attorney General and the nephew of President John F. Kennedy, has announced that he’s running for the De...

Beyoncé Takes the Stage

04 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This summer, the most anticipated tour (in close contest with Taylor Swift) is Beyoncé’s tour for her seventh studio album, “Renaissance,” whic...

Russia’s No-Good, Very Failed Coup, and Jill Lepore on Amending the Constitution

30 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Yevgeny Prigozhin’s march on Moscow last weekend, which killed more than a dozen Russian soldiers, fizzled as quickly as it began, but its repercuss...

Jonathan Mitchell, a Prominent Anti-Abortion Lawyer, on Restraining the Power of the Supreme Court

27 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In recent years, the attorney Jonathan Mitchell has become a crucial figure in the anti-abortion movement. Advising a Texas state senator, Mitchell de...

A Year of Change for a North Dakota Abortion Clinic, and the Composer John Williams

23 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

A year ago, the staff writer Emily Witt visited Fargo, North Dakota, to report on the Red River Women’s Clinic—the only abortion provider in the s...

Singer-songwriter Joy Oladokun, Plus Bryan Washington

20 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The singer-songwriter Joy Oladokun recently released her fourth album, called “Proof of Life.” Raised near Phoenix, Oladokun had aspirations of be...

Dexter Filkins on the Dilemma at the Border

16 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Dexter Filkins has reported on conflict situations around the world, and recently spent months reporting on the situation at the U.S.-Mexico border. I...

From “On the Media”: Seditious Conspiracy

13 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On January 6th, 2021, “On the Media” reporter Micah Loewinger recorded the secret communications of the Oath Keepers on a walkie-talkie app called...

The New York Times’ Publisher on the Future of Journalism, and the Poet Paul Tran

09 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Over the past several years, as more democratic institutions and norms have come under attack, many journalists have raised the question of whether it...

A Gay Russian, Exiled in Ireland

06 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Evgeny Shtorn and Alexander Kondakov were living together in St. Petersburg when Vladimir Putin began his crackdown on the L.G.B.T.Q. movement in Russ...

Should We, and Can We, Put the Brakes on Artificial Intelligence?

02 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, which created ChatGPT, says that AI is a powerful tool that will streamline human work and quicken the pace of scientific a...

The Director Rob Marshall on Halle Bailey as “The Little Mermaid”

30 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The live-action remake of Disney’s classic “The Little Mermaid” is out this weekend. The performance of Halle Bailey as Princess Ariel has been ...

E. Jean Carroll and Roberta Kaplan on Defamatory Trump, and Dexter Filkins on Ron DeSantis

26 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Earlier this month, E Jean Carroll won an unprecedented legal victory: in a civil suit, Donald Trump was found liable for sexual abuse against her in ...

Jill Lepore on the Joy of Gardening

23 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

It’s the time of year when many people feel an overpowering urge to dig—to plant their back yard or vegetable garden, or even the flowerpots on th...

Behind the Scenes with Tom Hanks

19 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Tom Hanks has been a constant presence on the American movie screen for forty years. He has played a mermaid’s boyfriend, an astronaut, a soldier on...

How Climate Change Is Impacting Our Mental Health

16 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In June, a first-of-its-kind lawsuit will go to trial in Montana. The case, Held v. Montana, centers on the climate crisis. Sixteen young plaintiffs a...

Michael Schulman on the Writers’ Strike, and Samantha Irby with Doreen St. Félix

12 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The last time the Writers Guild of America hit the picket line was fifteen years ago, with a strike that lasted a hundred days and cost the city of Lo...

Germany’s Traumatized Kriegskinder Speak Out

09 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

A troubling question looms over the Kriegskinder, Germans who were children during the Second World War: Was my father a mass murderer? These innocent...

Have State Legislatures Gone Rogue? And Joshua Yaffa on Evan Gershkovich

05 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Just a month ago, the story of two lawmakers expelled from the Tennessee legislature captured headlines across the country. Their offense wasn’t cor...

King Charles III Takes the Throne

02 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On May 6th, King Charles will become the oldest person to ascend the throne of the United Kingdom. He is a bit of an odd duck to be the king, Rebecca ...