Talk of Iowa

Thousands of monarch butterflies are finishing their annual migration to Mexico. On this episode, Samantha McIntosh sits in for Charity Nebbe. We talk with Mykayla Hagaman of the Iowa Monarch Conservation Consortium, who gives us an update on Iowa's monarch population. Then, Laura Iles of Iowa State University Integrated Pest Management and Extension Horticulturist Aaron Steil join us to answer your questions.

On this episode, we listen back to a 2025 conversation with Dawson resident and Air Force veteran Justin Wolfe, who received bronze at the 10th annual Invictus Games in Vancouver, Canada. Adaptive sports have helped Wolfe push past limitations from his diagnosis of multiple sclerosis. Troy Peterson, a fellow veteran and Winterset resident, helped Justin turn to sports through his non-profit ValorFit. Later in the hour, research from ecologists Steven Dinsmore and Victoria Fasbender at Iowa State University demonstrates that humans can tweak their behavior in relatively small ways that could make a positive impact for the pectoral sandpiper, a migratory...

The Americans with Disabilities Act has done a lot to improve accessibility in public spaces, but people with physical disabilities still encounter barriers every day. Host Charity Nebbe interviews Iowans who are trying to make our state more accessible. (This episode was originally produced Jan. 23, 2025.)

On this episode, we talk with author Yiyun Li about her Pulitzer Prize-winning memoir is 'Things in Nature Merely Grow,' and her new novel 'Music Against the Night.' Then, we listen back to a 2022 conversation with baker and Food Network regular Andrew Fuller.

Sixty years ago, the National Historic Preservation Act was signed into law, establishing a partnership and preservation ethic on historic properties between the federal government and state, tribal, and local governments. The U.S. Senate is now looking to change that framework in a permitting reform bill that was introduced on September 30 and is scheduled for a vote on November 9. Proponents of the bill say it’s designed to expedite projects, but stakeholders say it infringes on tribal and state rights and could lead to litigation and other roadblocks.

Now that it feels like fall, it's time to grapple with reality. On this Horticulture Day episode, Iowa State University horticulture professor Jeff Iles tells us how to prepare our woody landscape plants for cold weather and hungry critters. Then extension horticulture specialist Aaron Steil joins us, and he and Jeff answer listener questions.

On this episode, we explore the tools needed to tackle political discussions with loved ones, first by hearing the skills Greg and Jennifer Brost have developed since 2016. Then, human resources professional Jason Glass joins the conversation to share how skills in the workplace translate into personal relationships. Also, we hear from longtime friends Bob Leonard and Kevin Kincaid on how they have healthy discourse from different sides of the political spectrum and even enjoy it.

We revisit an interview with author Joanna Dee Das about her book, 'Faith, Family and Flag: Branson Entertainment and the Idea of America' and what Branson’s entertainment culture reveals about faith, patriotism and American identity. Then, a conversation with Conor Knighton, Emmy Award-winning correspondent from 'CBS Sunday Morning.' He's also the bestselling author of 'Leave Only Footprints: My Acadia to Zion Journey Through Every National Park.' (Part of this episode was originally produced Jan. 30, 2026.)

More than two hundred years later, Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein' still feels urgently relevant as it explores the dangers of playing God, the traumas of parental abandonment and the costs of rejection by society. On this episode of the 'Talk of Iowa' Book Club, we discuss 'Frankenstein' with three expert readers.

As second wave feminism was taking off, an equal and opposite movement to keep women in traditional roles was also gaining steam. On this episode, a 'Live, Laugh Love: The Secret History of White Christian Women and the World They Made' explores this history. We talk with author Kristin Kobes Du Mez about the origins of white Christian femininity in the United States.

Fall has arrived and beautiful colors are creeping across the landscape. After a couple of dry and less vibrant autumns, this year may be quite different. On this Horticulture Day episode, DNR Forester Mark Vitosh joins us to talk autumn leaves and how the weather affects the colors we see. He also shares some of his fall forest favorites. Then, Iowa State University extension horticulture specialist Aaron Steil joins us to answer listener questions.

When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, millions of Ukrainians were displaced, searching for a safe place to live and work. Augustana College professor Angela Boelens saw this need and opened her home in DeWitt to Ukrainians, with more families hoping to follow. With an outpouring support from the DeWitt community, Boelens founded the nonprofit organization IA NICE — Iowa Newcomer Integration Community and Exchange — which has helped relocate over 70 Ukrainians to Iowa. However, changes from the Trump Administration have impacted their ability to work, including a pending end to their Temporary Protected Status. On this episode, we talk with Boelens about what IA N...

The Amplifying Black Voices in Iowa project has digitized thousands of resources created by Black Iowans from the 19th through 21st centuries. The project has digitized 'The Iowa Bystander,' the oldest Black newspaper west of the Mississippi, issues of 'The Waterloo Defender,' a weekly paper in the 60s and 70s, photographs, letters, oral histories and more. On this episode, we learn about the project with some of the people that made it possible — Iowa State University archivist Amy Treslan, Felicite Wolfe of the African American Museum of Iowa and historian Ricki King. Then, the spotted hyena is a fa...

On this episode, we talk with Laura Wifler, a bestselling author of books for adults and children. She's hosted a popular podcast and founded Kid Lit Lab to help aspiring authors of children’s books. She writes about womanhood, motherhood, health and her Christian faith. A few years ago, she accidentally became a poet, and her latest book is a poetry collection called 'This Side of the Sky: 101 Poems and Scriptures for the Hungry, Hopeful and Homesick.' Then, a podcast created by an eighth grader in Marion is one of the middle school finalists in the 8th annual NPR St...

Over 20 years ago, Iowa State University’s creative writing program wanted to elevate its Master of Arts program to a Master of Fine Arts, but the University of Iowa was already home to one of the most acclaimed MFA programs in the country. Iowa State University created something different — an MFA program focused on creative writing and the environment. On this episode, we mark the 20th anniversary of ISU's Creative Writing and Environment MFA program with professor Debra Marquart. We discuss the literary journal that predated it, the 'Flyway Journal of Writing and the Environment,' with founding editor Steve Pett...

It’s a staple in almost every kitchen, but if you’re going to grow your own garlic you have to do some planning ahead. On this Horticulture Day episode, Iowa State University horticulture professor and chair Ajay Nair guides us through planting, caring for and harvesting garlic. Then, horticulture specialist Aaron Steil joins us, and he and Nair answer listener questions.

Carlotta Walls LaNier is one of the Little Rock Nine — one of the first nine Black students to integrate Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas in September 1957. Leona Tate is one of the McDonogh Three — one of the first three Black students at McDonogh elementary in New Orleans in 1960. On this episode, we talk with civil rights pioneers LaNier and Tate, who are speaking across Iowa this week. Then, we hear from actor Tony Danza who spoke with IPR's arts and culture reporter Nicole Baxter. He discusses how he made the switch from boxing to acting, his upcoming performance in M...

Your home is your first space. Work is your second space. A third space is a place where you can gather with other people in your community, meet people and make connections. But many of these spaces have disappeared, particularly in small towns. On this episode, rural sociologist Dave Peters shares how gas stations have become a social hub for small towns. Library director Mary Kathryn Gepner talks about the local library enduring as a third space. Jennifer Drinkwater talks about her work uplifting third spaces in Iowa's small towns and how they inspire her art. Finally, Tiara Phillips has...

On this episode, we listen back to a 2025 conversation about the bicentennial anniversary of organized Norwegian immigration to the U.S. and how Norwegian culture has shaped the Midwest and the U.S. as a whole. First, we hear highlights from the now-King of Norway's visit to the Vesterheim National Norwegian American Museum and Folk Art School and Luther College in Decorah. Then, we hear more about the Decorah-Norway partnership from Chris Johnson of Vesterheim and Maren Johnson of Luther. Later, Norwegian Torgrim Sneve Guttormsen and ISU faculty Ted Grevstad-Nordbrock discuss how Leif Erikson lore has been enshrined across the...