During a ceremony on May 15, 2022, Ira Glass and This American Life will receive the Newberry Library Award in recognition of outstanding contributions to the humanities.
Glass is the creator, producer, and host of the public radio program This American Life. Since debuting in 1995 on Chicago Public Radio, the now-syndicated program has won seven Peabody Awards and the first Pulitzer Prize for audio journalism, among many other accolades. In 2021, This American Life became the first podcast inducted into the Library of Congress's National Recording registry.
"Throughout his career, Ira Glass has helped millions of listeners better understand the human condition through riveting storytelling based on extensive research,"said Newberry President Daniel Greene. "He carries on the tradition of American journalism while pushing it in new and exciting directions. Like Carl Sandburg or Studs Terkel—whose work is so deeply associated with Chicago storytelling—Glass finds universal truths in the vivid details of people’s lives.”
In addition to his work on This American Life, Ira Glass is an author, film producer, and editor for the award-winning podcasts Serial, S-Town, and Nice White Parents.
Glass has received the Edward R. Murrow Award for Outstanding Contributions to Public Radio, the George Polk Award for Radio Reporting, and the Medal for Spoken Language from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
This year’s event will be hosted on Sunday, May 15, 2022, at The Ritz-Carlton in downtown Chicago. The event will include cocktails, dinner, and remarks by Ira Glass. Ticket and event information can be found here.
The Newberry Library Award is given annually to individuals or organizations to recognize their outstanding contributions to the humanities. Recent recipients include Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution Lonnie G. Bunch III, author Marilynne Robinson, historian David McCullough, Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden, and biographer Stacy Schiff.