Charity Nebbe
Talk of Iowa HostExpertise: Interviewing, literature, ecology, political science, history and life in Iowa, all in order to help IPR listeners and readers better understand, appreciate and explore their state
Education: Bachelors degree from Iowa State University
Favorite Iowa Destination: Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge
Experience:
Has served as a talk show and podcast host for IPR and WOI Radio, as well as for Michigan Public in Ann Arbor from 2000 — 2010
- Has been the host of Talk of Iowa since 2010
- Hosts the podcasts Garden Variety and Unsettled
- Founder of the Talk of Iowa Book Club
- Is a multi-award-winning host and reporter, including a regional Edward R. Murrow for The Bonobo Hope Great Ape Trust Sanctuary, a first place award from the Public Media Journalists Association for her Iowa Veteran Talks About Being Trafficked as a Teenager interview, a first place newscast award from the Public Media Journalists Association, and a Regional Upper Midwest Emmy for Iowa PBS' Iowa Ingredient
- Created the nationally-syndicated public radio show Chinwag Theater, which she produced and co-hosted with author Daniel Pinkwater
- Honored with an Alumni Achievement Award by Iowa State University's Department of Political Science
- Host of Iowa Life and Iowa Ingredient for Iowa PBS
- Author of the children's book Our Walk in the Woods, published in 2008
- Co-founder of Let Me Run Eastern Iowa Corridor, a character development and running program for boys
My Favorite Conversations
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The Talk of Iowa team hops into a dugout canoe on Lake Darling to learn about Indigenous cultural practices. Plus, Project AWARE uses canoes to clean up Iowa waters. -
While floodwaters destroyed and damaged Spencer homes, neighbors organized to help their community, supporting each other and the community after the devastating floodwaters receeded. -
Every spring, nearly one million Sandhill Cranes pass through an 80-mile stretch of the Platte River in Nebraska on their northward migration. -
In her memoir, Lucinda Williams explains how she spent her career making music on her own terms. -
The 108th annual Meskwaki Powwow takes place this weekend. It’s a four-day celebration of Meskwaki culture and tradition where everyone is welcome.
My Latest Stories
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Elizabeth Wehrle, of Montezuma, received a quadruple organ transplant earlier this year with a new liver, kidney and retransplanted lungs. This week, she returns home. -
At 96, Jean Lloyd-Jones has published ‘A Woman’s Place: My Life as a Public Servant.’ The book tracks her path from the League of Women Voters to the Iowa Legislature, as well as her work founding the Iowa Institute for Peace. -
Organizers said through times of hope and hardship, singing together has been an important way to find community and be authentic. The Silver Party on June 26 and 27 is a concert celebrating 25 years of the Des Moines Gay Men’s Chorus.
My Latest Podcasts
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Elizabeth Wehrle of Montezuma went into the hospital in February and this week she gets to go home. In March, she received a first-of-its-kind lifesaving surgery, a quadruple organ transplant. On this episode, we talk with Wehrle and Dr. Ankit Bharat of Northwestern Medicine, the lead surgeon for this groundbreaking procedure. We hear about the health issues that led to these transplants, what this surgical advancement means and what goes into the decision to perform a surgery that hasn’t been done before. Then, we talk with Suzanna de Baca, Iowa author of 'You Were Never Lost: Poems From The Tallgrass Prairie.' De Baca didn’t expect to write about grief, but when back at the place where she spent her childhood with a friend who died, poetry and nature helped her cope.
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The Granny Basketball League is growing fast, and this year's national tournament is in Ankeny. We hear from the Cedar Rapids Sizzlers, the Iowa Gold Stars and league founder Barb Tomlinson Trammel. We learn all about the sport, the league and how it connects with a rich history of women’s basketball in Iowa. Then, the freedom to wear trousers was one that women had to fight for and one of the earliest styles of pants that began to give women the freedom to move without restriction were called bloomers. Amelia Bloomer, women’s rights pioneer and reluctant fashion icon who lived in Iowa, inspired the name.
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The Iowa Water and Land Legacy (IWiLL) Constitutional Amendment passed in 2010 with 63% of the vote. It was designed to fund a Natural Resources and Outdoor Recreation trust fund, but 16 years later, the trust has never been funded. A new effort to fund the trust is underway. On this episode, we hear from Adam Shirley, CEO of Iowa’s County Conservation System, Anna Gray of the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation, and Lindsay Brice of Audubon Upper Mississippi River. We talk about the strain of stagnant or dwindling funding on county conservation boards and what IWiLL could mean for those programs. Then, we listen back to a conversation about some of the oldest book clubs in Iowa from their members. (Part of this show was originally produced March 31, 2026.)