Weekend Edition Sunday features interviews with newsmakers, artists, scientists, politicians, musicians, writers, theologians and historians. The program has covered news events from Nelson Mandela's 1990 release from a South African prison to the capture of Saddam Hussein.
Weekend Edition Sunday debuted on January 18, 1987, with host Susan Stamberg. Two years later, Liane Hansen took over the host chair, a position she held for 22 years. In that time, Hansen interviewed movers and shakers in politics, science, business and the arts. Her reporting travels took her from the slums of Cairo to the iron mines of Michigan's Upper Peninsula; from the oyster beds on the bayou in Houma, La., to Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park; and from the kitchens of Colonial Williamsburg, Va., to the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated.
In January 2017, Lulu Garcia-Navarro became host of Weekend Edition Sunday. She is infamous in the IT department at NPR for losing laptops to bullets and hurricanes. She comes to Weekend Edition Sunday from Rio de Janeiro where she was posted as NPR's international correspondent in South America. She has also been NPR's correspondent based in Mexico and spent many years in the Middle East based in Israel and Iraq. She was one of the first reporters to enter Libya after the 2011 Arab Spring began and spent months painting a deep and vivid portrait of a country at war. Her work earned her a 2011 George Foster Peabody Award, a Lowell Thomas Award from the Overseas Press Club, and an Edward R. Murrow Award from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the Alliance for Women and the Media's Gracie Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement. She has received other awards for her work in Mexico and most recently, the Amazon in Brazil.
Every week listeners tune in to hear a unique blend of news, features and the regularly scheduled puzzle segment with Puzzlemaster Will Shortz, the crossword puzzle editor of The New York Times.
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NPR's Ayesha Rascoe speaks to Dr. Margaret Harris from the World Health Organization about the growing risk of untreated diseases in Gaza.
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The U.S. Supreme Court hears a case, this week, with huge implications for the justice system. It involves the opioid settlement and the wealthy family behind OxyContin, the Sacklers.
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After months of jury selection, the Fulton County case against the influential rapper known as Young Thug has begun in Atlanta. Prosecutors are using his lyrics as evidence in the racketeering case.
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A preview of Lela Fadel's sit down with former Congresswoman Liz Cheney, whose new book is about former President Donald Trump's efforts to remain in office after losing the 2020 elections.
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Death is often depicted in TV and movies, but some clinicians say not very accurately. They're trying to shift the way Hollywood represents it.
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NPR's Ayesha Rascoe earlier this year spoke with actor Lily Tomlin about a film she starred in, "80 for Brady." The movie follows four friends who travel to see Tom Brady play in the 2017 Super Bowl.
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Venezuela and neighboring Guyana are at loggerheads over Venezuela staking a claim on more than half of Guyana's oil-rich territory. On Sunday, Venezuela will hold a referendum to uphold its claim.
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"How does he do it?" Author Mac Barnett and illustrator Jon Klassen squeeze, squash and generally put Santa through the wringer while trying to answer an age-old Christmas mystery. -
NPR's Ayesha Rascoe plays the puzzle with Jeff Wood of Madison, Wisconsin, and Weekend Edition puzzle master Will Shortz.
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Fish are responsible for capturing billions of tons of carbon dioxide each year. NPR's Ayesha Rascoe speaks with Ken Buesseler of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute about how they do it.
