Alix Spiegel is an American public radio producer and

science journalist Science journalism conveys reporting about science to the public. The field typically involves interactions between scientists, journalists, and the public. Origins Modern science journalism dates back to '' Digdarshan'' (means showing the d ...

. She is currently a senior audio editor for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

''. Spiegel previously hosted and produced the NPR program '' Invisibilia'' with

Hanna Rosin Hanna Rosin (born 1970) is an Israeli-born American writer. She is the editorial director for audio for ''New York Magazine'' Formerly, she was the co-host of the NPR podcast Invisibilia with Alix Spiegel. She was co-founder of DoubleX, the no ...

and worked on ''

This American Life ''This American Life'' (''TAL'') is an American monthly hour-long radio program produced in collaboration with Chicago Public Media and hosted by Ira Glass. It is broadcast on numerous public radio stations in the United States and internatio ...

'' and for

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

Biography

Spiegel grew up in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

in a secular Jewish household. Her father was the great-grandson of

Joseph Spiegel Joseph Spiegel (1840–1918) was the founder of the Spiegel catalog, a Civil War veteran, the younger brother of Union Army Colonel Marcus M. Spiegel, and patriarch of the Spiegel family. Biography Spiegel was born to a Jewish family, the son ...

, the founder of the Spiegel Catalog. Her great-aunt was civil rights activist Polly Spiegel Cowan. She played the

violin The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...

from a very young age and initially considered a career as a musician. After graduating from Oberlin College, Spiegel moved to Chicago, where she saw an announcement in a newspaper about a fledgling local show for WBEZ called ''Your American Playhouse: Documentaries About American Life''. In 1995 Spiegel began correspondence with the show's producer,

Ira Glass Ira Jeffrey Glass (; born March 3, 1959) is an American public radio personality. He is the host and producer of the radio and television series ''This American Life'' and has participated in other NPR programs, including ''Morning Edition'', ' ...

, who took her on as an intern. In 1996 the show changed its name to ''

'' and was picked up nationally by Public Radio International, by which time Spiegel was producing pieces for the show. That year Spiegel and the show's other producers won the

George Foster Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...

In 2002, Spiegel won the

Livingston Award The Livingston Awards at the University of Michigan are American journalism awards issued to media professionals under the age of 35 for local, national, and international reporting. They are the largest, all-media, general reporting prizes in Ame ...

for episode #204 " 81 Words" about Spiegel's own grandfather, Dr. John Patrick Spiegel, who had a hand in removing

homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to pe ...

from the '' Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders''. In 2007, she won the Alfred I. duPont–Columbia University Award for the segment, "Which One of These is Not Like the Others?" for episode #322, "Shouting Across the Divide". Having taken up an interest in the human mind, Spiegel eventually moved on to freelance work for NPR's Science Desk where she spent ten years covering psychology and human behavior. In 2008 she won the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for her piece "Stuck and Suicidal in a Post-Katrina Trailer Park". In 2010 she won the Erikson Institute Prize for Excellence in Mental Health Media. She continued to appear as an occasional contributor to ''This American Life'' until the launch of her show ''Invisibilia''. Spiegel's science reporting has also been featured in ''

'' and ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spiegel, Alix Living people People from Baltimore American Jews American radio producers Oberlin College alumni NPR personalities This American Life people Year of birth missing (living people) Livingston Award winners for National Reporting Spiegel family Journalists from Maryland 20th-century American journalists 21st-century American journalists Women radio producers