Petra Mayer
Petra Mayer died on November 13, 2021. She has been remembered by friends and colleagues, including all of us at NPR. The Petra Mayer Memorial Fund for Internships has been created in her honor.
Petra Mayer (she/her) was an editor (and the resident nerd) at NPR Books, focusing on fiction, and particularly genre fiction. She brought to the job passion, speed-reading skills, and a truly impressive collection of Doctor Who doodads. You could also hear her on the air and on the occasional episode of Pop Culture Happy Hour.
Prior to her role at NPR Books, she was an associate producer and director for All Things Considered on the weekends. She handled all of the show's books coverage, and she was also the person to ask if you wanted to know how much snow falls outside NPR's Washington headquarters on a Saturday, how to belly dance, or what pro wrestling looks like up close and personal.
Mayer originally came to NPR as an engineering assistant in 1994, while still attending Amherst College. After three years spending summers honing her soldering skills in the maintenance shop, she made the jump to Boston's WBUR as a newswriter in 1997. Mayer returned to NPR in 2000 after a roundabout journey that included a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University and a two-year stint as an audio archivist and producer at the Prague headquarters of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. She still knows how to solder.
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The singer says she was offered the honor by the Trump administration but was unable to accept, first because her husband was ill and then because the pandemic made traveling to the ceremony unsafe. -
This year's MacArthur Fellows — recipients of what's commonly called the Genius Grant — include artists, scientists, dancers and more. They'll each receive a no-strings-attached $625,000 award.
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The victory gardens of the 1940s helped people contribute to the war effort from the safety of home. 75 years later, vegetable gardens are having a resurgence, for similiar reasons.
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Chevalier's new novel follows one of the generation of "surplus women," who lost their men in World War I and had to make new lives for themselves — sometimes outside the bounds of convention.
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The renowned British actor was nominated for five Oscars and two Tony Awards, among other prizes. His career spanned six decades, from understudying Laurence Olivier to appearing in a James Bond film.
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Trick or treat! A few years ago, we celebrated Frankenstein's 200th birthday by dedicating our annual reader poll to horror stories. This Halloween, check out our list of 100 spine-tingling tales.
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If all the world's a stage, and men and women merely players, there must be somewhere to stash the scenery and change your costumes. What's it like in the wings at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre?
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In honor of our big summer reader poll of favorite comics and graphic novels, we've asked a few very cool cartoonists to tell us — or really, draw for us — what comics mean to them.
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San Diego Comic-Con is the sweet spot for immersive marketing, a form of advertising involving elaborate experiences that let fans feel like they're inside their favorite games, movies and shows.
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The trademark illustrations in The Wall Street Journal look like engravings. But they're actually intricate pointilist portraits. Petra Mayer visits stipple artist Noli Novak at her New Jersey studio.
