Ursula Sommer is a producer and writer.
She has worked on a number of WNYC’s live radio shows, including All Of It, Midday on WNYC, and Indivisible. Ursula’s reporting has appeared on WNYC, Gothamist, and in The Art Newspaper. She has a master’s degree from Freie Universität Berlin where she studied visual and media anthropology and she loves getting lost in an archive.
Ursula Sommer appears in the following:
What Resistance Means to Governor J. B. Pritzker
Friday, November 07, 2025
The Illinois governor talks with Peter Slevin about immigration raids in Chicago, and the limits of state authority when it comes to opposing the federal government.
Patti Smith on Her Memoir “Bread of Angels,” Fifty Years After Her Début Album, “Horses”
Friday, November 07, 2025
In the musician’s most revealing account she discusses her retreat from public life, the early loss of her husband, and the challenge of learning and writing about her biological father.
It’s Not Just You: The Internet Is Actually Getting Worse
Friday, October 24, 2025
In the new book “Enshittification,” Cory Doctorow argues that the deterioration of the online experience is a deliberate business strategy; he chats with the tech columnist Kyle Chayka.
Zadie Smith on Politics, Turning Fifty, and Mind Control
Friday, October 24, 2025
The author’s new essay collection, “Dead and Alive,” addresses debates on representation in literature, feminism, and how our phones have radicalized us.
How Lionel Richie Mastered the Love Song
Friday, October 03, 2025
The singer talks with Hanif Abdurraquib about his career’s “mountaintops and valleys,” being bullied as a child, and how the Commodores did the “dumbass shit” they wanted to avoid.
Is The 2026 Election Already in Danger?
Friday, September 19, 2025
Donald Trump has long claimed elections are rigged; now he gets to do the rigging. The election lawyer Marc Elias explains what the Administration can and can’t do to impact voting.
The Cartoonist Liana Finck Picks Three Favorite Children’s Books
Friday, September 19, 2025
The illustrator explains how kids’ books made her an artist, and shares favorites from William Steig, Maira Kalman, and Lore Segal and Harriet Pincus.
Kevin Young on His Book “Night Watch,” Inspired by Death and Dante
Friday, September 12, 2025
The New Yorker’s poetry editor discusses his new collection of poems, and how the pandemic brought him to themes of grief, political outrage, and our susceptibility to hoaxes.
Anna Wintour Embraces a New Era at Vogue
Friday, September 05, 2025
Vogue is almost synonymous with its longtime editor, Anna Wintour. She talks with David Remnick about choosing Chloe Malle as her successor, and how fashion changed under her tutelage.
A Palestinian Journalist Escapes Death in Gaza
Friday, August 15, 2025
The reporter Mohammed R. Mhawish was targeted in an Israeli air strike. He lived, and escaped Gaza. He continues to report on the deprivation and challenges of people trapped in the war.
John Brennan, Former C.I.A. Director, on Being Targeted by Trump
Friday, August 01, 2025
Brennan’s C.I.A. was lambasted by Donald Trump as part of what he called the “Russia hoax.” Why is the Administration going after Brennan now?
Mayor Karen Bass on Marines in Los Angeles
Friday, July 25, 2025
Elected in part on a promise to address the housing crisis, Bass faces a different crisis: a federal “seizure” of Los Angeles, and an Administration fixated on mass deportation.
Carrie Brownstein on a Portrait of Cat Power by Richard Avedon
Friday, July 11, 2025
The musician and Portlandia co-creator dissects an iconic rock and roll image: Richard Avedon’s 2003 photograph of Chan Marshall, better known as Cat Power, for a New Yorker Profile.
Bret Baier On Trump’s Love-Hate Relationship with Fox News
Friday, June 27, 2025
The Fox News anchor discusses the channel’s nightly news show, his role in the current media ecosystem, and what liberal outlets have gotten wrong about covering Trump.
Barbra Streisand on “The Secret of Life”
Friday, June 13, 2025
The legend discusses her new album, her complicated relationship to performing, and recording a duet with Bob Dylan decades after he first asked her to collaborate.
What Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Doesn’t Understand About Autism
Friday, June 06, 2025
An autism researcher on Kennedy’s initiative to identify a cause, the focus on environmental factors, and the dangers of misinformation.
Elissa Slotkin to Fellow-Democrats: “Speak in Plain English”
Friday, May 09, 2025
The Michigan senator on what she thinks Democrats have been getting wrong and why her state elected Donald Trump and her at the same time.
A Historical Epic of the Chinese in America
Friday, April 25, 2025
Chinese immigrants in the U.S. have been fighting for centuries against racial prejudice, the author Michael Luo says; their story should be seen as an American epic.
Cory Booker: “America Needs Moral Leadership, and Not Political Leadership”
Friday, April 25, 2025
The senator talks with David Remnick about his record-breaking speech in Congress, and why he resists calls for Democrats to act alone in standing up to Donald Trump.
How Science Fiction Led Elon Musk to DOGE
Friday, April 18, 2025
Jill Lepore says that the SpaceX CEO, an avid science-fiction fan, misreads cautionary tales as instruction manuals—and that his obsessions will shape America’s future.
