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.
-
Fifty years ago, Lebanese singer Fairuz released a song that stirred hope and national pride. NPR's Leila Fadel talks to music journalist Danny Hajjar about its enduring significance.
-
NPR's Leila Fadel talks to Billboard Magazine's Tetris Kelly about the comeback concert for K-pop supergroup BTS. Hundreds of thousands of fans are expected to pack downtown Seoul Saturday.
-
In a new album, the Ukranian-born, New York-based pianist and composer Vadim Neselovskyi channels the horror and hope he's felt since Russia's incursion. -
Lewis Capaldi wants to be known for more than ballads. His new EP Survive is the start. -
Director Richard Linklater and actor Ethan Hawke discuss their new film Blue Moon, which focuses on one fateful night toward the end of lyricist Lorenz Hart's life. -
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.
-
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.
-
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.
