Leila Fadel
Leila Fadel is a national correspondent for NPR based in Los Angeles, covering issues of culture, diversity, and race.
Most recently, she was NPR's international correspondent based in Cairo and covered the wave of revolts in the Middle East and their aftermaths in Libya, Tunisia, Egypt, and beyond. Her stories brought us to the heart of a state-ordered massacre of pro-Muslim Brotherhood protesters in Cairo in 2013 when police shot into crowds of people to clear them and killed between 1,000 and 2,000 people. She told us the tales of a coup in Egypt and what it is like for a country to go through a military overthrow of an elected government. She covered the fall of Mosul to ISIS in 2014 and documented the harrowing tales of the Yazidi women who were kidnapped and enslaved by the group. Her coverage also included stories of human smugglers in Egypt and the Syrian families desperate and willing to pay to risk their lives and cross a turbulent ocean for Europe.
She was awarded the Lowell Thomas Award from the Overseas Press Club for her coverage of the 2013 coup in Egypt and the toll it took on the country and Egyptian families. In 2017 she earned a Gracie award for the story of a single mother in Tunisia whose two eldest daughters were brainwashed and joined ISIS. The mother was fighting to make sure it didn't happen to her younger girls.
Before joining NPR, she covered the Middle East for The Washington Post as the Cairo Bureau Chief. Prior to her position as Cairo Bureau Chief for the Post, she covered the Iraq war for nearly five years with Knight Ridder, McClatchy Newspapers, and later the Washington Post. Her foreign coverage of the devastating human toll of the Iraq war earned her the George. R. Polk award in 2007. In 2016 she was the Council on Foreign Relations Edward R. Murrow fellow.
Leila Fadel is a Lebanese-American journalist who speaks conversational Arabic and was raised in Saudi Arabia and Lebanon.
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BBC Music Introducing named Olivia Dean artist of the year in 2023 following the release of her debut album. Now, Dean is back with her second studio album, The Art of Loving. -
"Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery" recalls the success of the woman-led music festival created by singer Sarah McLachlan. McLachlan and documentarian Ally Pankiw talk about the film.
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Pop star Sabrina Carpenter tells NPR's Leila Fadel why she describes her new album as a "party for heartbreak," and "a celebration of disappointment." -
NPR speaks with cellist Camden Shaw and Chickasaw composer Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate about the Dover Quartet's album "Woodland Songs," featuring a commissioned suite of character studies of animals.
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Cellist Maya Beiser explores women's resilience through the centuries in her new album, "Salt," starting with the unnamed biblical figure of Lot's wife.
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Anxiety and panic attacks crippled Simone Dinnerstein {sih-MOAN-uh DIN-er-steen} for years, despite her stellar career as a concert pianist. She tells NPR's Leila Fadel how she overcame her stage fright.
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In 1993, Adam Duritz and his band Counting Crows took roots-rock to new heights with their debut August and Everything After. More than 30 years later, they offer a new album, cut from the same cloth. -
During the COVID pandemic, NPR's Morning Edition commissioned pieces by musicians from various genres. Five years later, we listen back on the project.
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Kendrick Lamar will be the featured performer at the 2025 Super Bowl halftime show. Who makes that decision about who will perform, and how do they decide?
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"Heartbreaker" was the lead single from Mariah Carey's 1999 album "Rainbow." NPR's Leila Fadel talks to music writer Stephen Thomas Erlewine about the hit's legacy.
