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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In her debut memoir, acclaimed Palestinian American novelist and poet Hala Alyan describes her journey of exile, surrogacy and finding home. -
NPR's Leila Fadel speaks with Rep. Chris Deluzio, D-Penn., about the budget and tax reconciliation process in the House and how Democrats might capitalize on it.
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Maine Gov. Janet Mills speaks with NPR's Leila Fadel about how President Trump's massive tax and spending bill will harm the state's healthcare system and residents. -
President Trump says Israel has agreed to a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza and urged Hamas to accept it. This comes ahead of a Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to the White House next week.
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NPR's Leila Fadel speaks with Michael Shaikh about his new book "The Last Sweet Bite," which explores the effects of violence on cuisines in conflict zones.
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When the Trump administration took over, one of its first major moves was dismantling the United States Agency for International Development. Nearly six months later, it officially shuts down Tuesday.
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New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani discusses his vision for the city and his surprise win in last week's Democratic primary on Morning Edition. -
The University of Virginia's President resigned under pressure from the Trump administration. Leila Fadel asks Professor Brenden Cantwell at Michigan State about the impact on public higher education.
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NPR's Leila Fadel speaks with Aitor Zabalgogeazkoa, an emergency coordinator with Doctors Without Borders in Gaza, who explains why his organization is calling for the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation aid distribution system to be dismantled.
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Jim Obergefell, plaintiff in the landmark Supreme Court case that legalized gay marriage in all 50 states, reflects on the decision 10 years later and the LGBTQ community's current civil rights fight.
