Ira Glass (IraGlass)

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Ira Glass is host of NPR's popular documentary show "This American Life" as well as a popular lecturer, writer and speaker.

As host and producer of the documentary public radio program "This American Life", Ira Glass focuses on the details of life that often go unobserved. This American Life had its premiere on Chicago's public radio station WBEZ in late 1995 and is now heard on more than 500 public radio stations each week by over 1.7 million listeners. Sidestepping sensationalism, Glass and his staff serve up narrative epics that pinpoint, in the tradition of Studs Terkel, the unusual and poetic in the everyday. This American Life addresses one theme each week, exploring it from various points of view. It has become an enduring favorite on public radio across the country. A number of stories from the program are in development to become feature films at Warner Brothers. The show has released two Greatest Hits compilations and a DVD, created with cartoonist Chris Ware.

Ira Glass began his career as an intern at National Public Radio's network head-quarters in Washington, DC in 1978, when he was 19 years old. Over the years, he worked on nearly every NPR network news program and held virtually every production job in NPR's Washington headquarters. He has been a tape cutter, newscast writer, desk assistant, editor, and producer. He has filled in as host of Talk of the Nation and Weekend All Things Considered.

Under Glass's editorial direction, This American Life has won the highest honors for broadcasting and journalistic excellence, including the Peabody and DuPont-Columbia awards, as well as the Robert F. Kennedy Award. The American Journalism Review declared that the show is "at the vanguard of a journalistic revolution." It has attracted continuous national media attention over the years, including features in The New York Times, Vogue, Entertainment Weekly, and numerous other publications. Ira Glass has made appearances on the Late Show with David Letterman and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. In 2001, Time magazine named Glass "Best Radio Host in America."