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Hanukkah Lights for 2011 presents a collection of specially commissioned works — brand-new stories in which a bookish schoolboy finds a troublesome streak of defiance, a young woman finds a rewarding new life while confronting sudden tragedy, and a few desperate men find miraculous comfort in a quiet ceremony of light — all read by Susan Stamberg and Murray Horwitz, in a program that launches the third decade of this annual holiday favorite.

Hanukkah Lights 2011
Airs December 17 at 2PM on AM 820, December 18 at 8PM on AM 820, and December 20 at 3PM on 93.9 FM
A perennial NPR favorite, Hanukkah Lights features Hanukkah stories and memoirs written by acclaimed authors expressly for the show, as read by NPR's Susan ...

The Third Coast International Audio Festival brings the best new documentaries produced worldwide to the national airwaves in a special two-hour program, Best of the Best: The 2011 Third Coast Festival Broadcast. The featured documentaries, all winners of the 11th annual TC / Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Competition, demonstrate just how powerful radio can be. This is the place to hear the most accomplished producers and best emerging talent from around the world, artists who are shaping the future of public radio.

The Hidden World of Girls gathers stories from around the world of girls and the women they became; of coming of age, rituals and rites of passage, secret identities of women who crossed a line, blazed a trail, and changed the tide.  Hosted by actress and comedian, Tina Fey, The Hidden World of Girls was inspired by the NPR series heard on Morning Edition and All Things Considered.  

"Remember Us Unto Life" takes the form of a conversation between Rabbi Ismar Schorsch and host Larry Josephson, a secular Jew who wants to know more about the religion of his grandparents. Josephson asks simple questions. Rabbi Schorsch responds in ways that are accessible but sophisticated and historically accurate. Rabbi Schorsch talks about the history, liturgy and meaning in our time of these ancient holidays, the most solemn on the Jewish calendar. The conversation is illustrated and elevated with music of the High Holidays.

WQXR presents The Cathedral Choir of the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine's first public concert under the direction of the renowned Kent Tritle, performing works that capture the power of music to provide solace, inspiration and hope. 

As the intense emergency of the 9/11 attacks subsided, David Garland turned to the music of 18th Century German composer Johann Sebastian Bach. Moved by Bach's deep emotion, the beauty of Bach's musical logic, and the profound way Bach's music is able to express the truths and ideals of humanity, Garland created "Bach: Solace and Inspiration," to inaugurate WNYC's return to music programming on September 23, 2001. For this tenth anniversary of 9/11, Garland has assembled highlights from the original program.

The full schedule of Decade 9/11 programming on WNYC, WQXR and in The Greene Space.

Kai Ryssdal hosts The Breakdown, an hour-long special. Marketplace Senior Editor Paddy Hirsch will discuss the major financial events from 2008 to now. New York Bureau Chief Heidi Moore will explain what is behind the drastic market swings. Marketplace will also report on the biggest impact of the economic crisis to individuals: joblessness. Marketplace will ask the tough questions. The Breakdown will also take a global perspective with reports from Europe and China on the relationship between their economies and ours.

COLLABORATE with The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space this fall in A City Reimagined 2011, a new season of once-in-a-lifetime conversations and performances opening as the city observes the tenth anniversary of September 11, 2001.

Travels with Mike stops in some of the same towns that author John Steinbeck visited when he travelled around the country in 1960 on a trip that inspired him to write the iconic book “Travels with Charley”. Travels with Mike comprises a series of conversations, across time, between a great American writer of the last century and a diverse array of contemporary artists — conversations about issues, place, and the spirit of the country.  

If you want to be out and proud then Africa is not most inviting of places. Homosexual acts are illegal in numerous countries on the continent and in recent years many African leaders have been increasing the anti-gay rhetoric. In Uganda a proposed anti-gay law continues to be discussed which includes life imprisonment for gays.

Symphony Space’s marks its 30^th annual celebration of James Joyce’s Ulysses Thursday, June 16 with a marathon reading featuring over 100 actors and all 18 episodes of the famed novel.  WNYC 93.9 FM will join in to broadcast the readings from 8pm until it ends sometime after midnight, or you can stream the complete live video Webcast below.

Michael Goldfarb traces this iconic neighborhood's story by telling the history of a single street in Harlem - 120th Street between 5th and 6th Avenues - from 1910 to the present. Harlem is the best known African-American neighborhood in the world, but a hundred years ago 120th Street was, like most of the area, a Jewish neighborhood. Goldfarb describes life as it was and life as it is today and asks what price has been paid by long-time black residents for the area's gentrification.

"Walt Whitman: Song of Myself” explores how a 36-year old freelance journalist and part-time house-builder living in Brooklyn created his outrageous, groundbreaking work that irrevocably altered the development of poetry—and literature—that followed.

Fresh Greens 2.0 examines what it means to be "green." Youth radio producers from around the country reflect on their observations as they seek out programs and efforts designed to have a positive impact on the environment.

The pieces explore everything from the affect of a vegetarian diet on the environment to the difference between artificial turf and natural grass.  At risk teens in San Francisco rhyme and rap about community gardening and kids in Bellingham, Washington learn how to compost. The show is narrated and produced by students from the Terrascope Youth Radio project.

Lublin, Poland, 1797: While they prepare for Passover, a family of Jewish women klezmer musicians struggles for survival, but when music and love prove not enough, only the unthinkable can save them. A story as ancient as myth, and as modern as every family that struggles to hold its center in a world of strife and conflicting loyalties.

Larry Josephson, a secular Jew who now wants to know more about the religion of his grandparents, asks Rabbi Ismar Schorsch to explain the meaning of Passover. Dr. Schorsch tells Larry the story of Passover -- its history, rituals and foods, and the origins and structure of the Seder. The music of Passover, sung by some of the best cantors and choirs in the world, is woven in and out of the conversation.

Nine thousand feet beneath the surface of several Northeastern states lie vast deposits of shale impregnated with natural gas. The Marcellus Shale play, as it is called, is being touted by energy analysts as one of the largest in the world. For a chronically hard-pressed region in a season of recession, the promise of mailbox money just for signing a simple lease to subsurface rights is almost irresistible. Almost, that is, until they’ve signed and discover the implications of their decision.