Samantha Balaban
Samantha Balaban is a producer at Weekend Edition.
After receiving her M.A. in Journalism and Latin American studies from New York University, she got her start in public radio covering the James "Whitey" Bulger trial for WBUR as an intern. Since coming to NPR in 2014, she has reported on a perfume-loving tiger, traveled to Mexico to meet actor Diego Luna (and cover the elections), ridden with border patrol officers along the Rio Grande River, eaten very well in Houston, interviewed a Bangle and used her waterproof fanny pack to help keep her mic dry during hurricanes. She's also responsible for Picture This, a series of conversations with authors and illustrators.
Most days, you can find her under a pile of books and mail coordinating Weekend Edition's book coverage. On weekends, she's hanging out with her dog, Winnie.
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Papilio is a picture book told in three parts about three stages of a butterfly's life (there are really four stages but egg time is pretty boring). It's also written and illustrated by three friends. -
On Winged Victory, songwriter Willi Carlisle weaves between the absurd and the sentimental. NPR's Scott Simon speaks with Carlisle about the 11 tracks of originals and covers. -
Reporter Kevin Sack's new book is a history of Charleston's Emanuel AME Church, the oldest Black congregation in the South, where a white supremacist killed nine worshippers a decade ago. -
What do you get if you add poems that are "Shel Silverstein meets Rumi for kids" with pictures of yetis and primordial slime? Words with Wings and Magic Things, a book of illustrated poems for kids. -
When they became parents, Dragons Love Tacos illustrator Daniel Salmieri and artist Sophia Haas noticed that they were ... noticing more. So they wrote Next to Me, their first kids' book together. -
Author Andrea L. Rogers and artist Rebecca Lee Kunz met by chance at the Cherokee National Holiday. Then they won the 2025 Caldecott Medal for their story about a helpful little boy named Chooch. -
A brave hummingbird does what she can to fight a fire in Sascha Alper's new book. It was one of the last projects illustrator Jerry Pinkney worked on before he died. His son Brian finished it for him. -
An authoritative artist has many rules for his still life painting. Too bad! Because the mouse, the dragon, the knight, and the princess are here to break them in this raucous new picture book. -
"Leaders are not born," Granny says. "They're made through molding and modeling." That's why she and her granddaughter and putting on their hats and coats and walking to the polls. -
Author Travis Jonker and illustrator Matthew Cordell talk about the real model ship that inspired their picture book about a man, his son, a mouse, and the voyage that brings them together.
