Jeevika Verma
Jeevika Verma joined NPR's Morning Edition and Up First as a producer in February 2020. During her time there, she's produced a variety of stories ranging from Afghanistan peace talks, COVID surges in India and local & state elections. Verma also contributes to arts and poetry coverage for NPR's culture desk, and is always trying to get more poets on air. She leads the Morning Edition diversity council and works on DEI efforts across the network to help NPR live up to its mission.
Verma came to Morning Edition from WNYC's The Takeaway where she produced national segments in addition to supporting the daily live show. Originally from India, she got her master's degree in journalism from Columbia University, where she spent months producing long-form works of narrative journalism on the opioid crisis, power struggles within the South Asian community and the mental health of couples struggling with addiction. Prior to that, she worked in marketing, public relations and publishing. Her first stint at NPR was actually a corporate communications and media relations internship in 2017. Verma is a part-time tarot reader and full-time poet. She also spent the last few years as a freelance writer for several publications and created some independent zines.
-
Victoria Chang traces her family history through letter writing in her book, Dear Memory. In an NPR interview, she talks facing micro and macro aggressions and staying silent, just like her parents. -
If you, like many people, are getting through the dragging months of the pandemic by being Very Online, you'll find poet Leigh Stein's new book is a perfect encapsulation of that experience. -
In her latest collection, Chinese American poet Muriel Leung considers what it means to assimilate, and ultimately heal, against the collective memory of grief and vulnerability. -
In India, a generation of new doctors enters the field at a time of crisis. One new doctor in New Delhi is haunted by a woman who begged for a hospital bed — but they were all full. -
The Afghan politician has survived two assassination attempts and is one of four Afghan women negotiating with the Taliban. "The power of words is stronger than the power of bullets," she tells NPR. -
In her third collection of poems, Natalie Shapero takes a blunt, funny look at the uncomfortable realities of life under capitalism. She says her work engages with the things people don't talk about. -
Poet Jackie Wang's collection is a surrealist expression of how social processes and traumas show up in our dreams and how we can better understand ourselves by tuning in to them. -
The multidisciplinary artist has brought new visibility to Canada's trans community. Her new book, The Subtweet, chronicles a friendship between two musicians that implodes under online pressures. -
Akbar, a poet himself, waves his pom poms for the form at DiveDapper, a site dedicated to in-depth interviews with his favorite poets. He says he wants to live his life "in joyful service" to poetry.
