Ari Shapiro
Ari Shapiro has been one of the hosts of All Things Considered, NPR's award-winning afternoon newsmagazine, since 2015. During his first two years on the program, listenership to All Things Considered grew at an unprecedented rate, with more people tuning in during a typical quarter-hour than any other program on the radio.
Shapiro has reported from above the Arctic Circle and aboard Air Force One. He has covered wars in Iraq, Ukraine, and Israel, and he has filed stories from dozens of countries and most of the 50 states.
Shapiro spent two years as NPR's International Correspondent based in London, traveling the world to cover a wide range of topics for NPR's news programs. His overseas move came after four years as NPR's White House Correspondent during President Barack Obama's first and second terms. Shapiro also embedded with the campaign of Republican Mitt Romney for the duration of the 2012 presidential race. He was NPR's Justice Correspondent for five years during the George W. Bush Administration, covering debates over surveillance, detention and interrogation in the years after Sept. 11.
Shapiro's reporting has been consistently recognized by his peers. He has won two national Edward R. Murrow awards; one for his reporting on the life and death of Breonna Taylor, and another for his coverage of the Trump Administration's asylum policies on the US-Mexico border. The Columbia Journalism Review honored him with a laurel for his investigation into disability benefits for injured American veterans. The American Bar Association awarded him the Silver Gavel for exposing the failures of Louisiana's detention system after Hurricane Katrina. He was the first recipient of the American Judges' Association American Gavel Award for his work on U.S. courts and the American justice system. And at age 25, Shapiro won the Daniel Schorr Journalism Prize for an investigation of methamphetamine use and HIV transmission.
An occasional singer, Shapiro makes frequent guest appearances with the "little orchestra" Pink Martini, whose recent albums feature several of his contributions, in multiple languages. Since his debut at the Hollywood Bowl in 2009, Shapiro has performed live at many of the world's most storied venues, including Carnegie Hall in New York, The Royal Albert Hall in London and L'Olympia in Paris. In 2019 he created the show "Och and Oy" with Tony Award winner Alan Cumming, and they continue to tour the country with it.
Shapiro was born in Fargo, North Dakota, and grew up in Portland, Oregon. He is a magna cum laude graduate of Yale. He began his journalism career as an intern for NPR Legal Affairs Correspondent Nina Totenberg, who has also occasionally been known to sing in public.
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NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with actor and singer Reneé Rapp about her path from Broadway to a hit HBO show, and now, her long-desired launch as a solo music artist with her EP 'Everything to Everyone.'
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Burna Boy opens up about his connection to his fans, his home, and the ways he makes sense of who he is as a person and who he is as a performer.
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A cultural center in Senegal is creating a safe space where artists can use their platform to speak about climate change while also finding opportunities in the art and music scene.
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When Yamen Mekdad and Mark Gergis met in 2018, the pair combined their love of Syrian cassettes into a project aiming to save them — and share them more widely.
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NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with 22-year-old jazz singer Samara Joy, who recently took to the stage of legendary club Blues Alley in Washington, D.C. Her album, Linger Awhile, is out now.
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NPR's Ari Shapiro speaks with director Brett Morgen on his documentary on David Bowie, Moonage Daydream. It's the first film since Bowie's death in 2016 that had the full cooperation of his estate.
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NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with music critic Nate Chinen about the legacy of iconic jazz Hammond organ player Joey DeFrancesco, who died on Thursday.
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The First Nations rapper comes from "a place of understanding [that] at the end of the day everybody is human and we all have a lack of knowledge that we can expand on." His debut album is out today.
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Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last week, many have turned to music to express the emotion that has overwhelmed them in this moment. We examine five songs and what they mean today.
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NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with NPR music critic Ann Powers and music scholar Shana Redmond about how old and new protest music reflects political moments, following the Supreme Court overturning Roe.