Creator and host of public radio’s This American Life
Glass began his career as an intern at National Public Radio’s network headquarters in Washington, D.C. in 1978, when he was 19 years old. He put This American Life on the air in 1995. He also served as an editor for the groundbreaking podcasts Serial, S-Town and Nice White Parents.
Under Glass’s editorial direction, This American Life has won the highest honors for broadcasting and journalistic excellence, including seven Peabody Awards and the first Pulitzer Prize ever awarded for audio journalism. In 2021, This American Life episode The Giant Pool of Money was inducted into the Library of Congress’s National Recording Registry, the first podcast ever so honored.
“Mr. Glass is a journalist but also a storyteller, who filters his interviews and impressions through a distinctive literary imagination, an eccentric intelligence and a sympathetic heart.” – The New York Times
“What’s amazing is how new This American Life sounds. It has this beat all to itself. These stories float right into your brain and lodge there.” – The Nation
“We’re blessed from time to time with a spontaneous generation of humor and insight….Ira Glass finds—uncovers—drama and humor in the most pedestrian of places.” – David Mamet