Talk of Iowa
Talk of Iowa is a place for Iowans to connect to our shared culture and what it means to live in Iowa. Host Charity Nebbe brings a mix of regular guests and a range of experts to discuss the arts, history, literature and everything else happening in Iowa. Every day brings something new — even if it's in a recurring segment like Talk of Iowa Book Club or comes from a familiar voice on Horticulture Day.
- Update frequency
- every day
- Average duration
- 47 minutes
- Episodes
- 147
- Years Active
- 2025
Documentary shows how pie is baked into Iowa's cultural fabric
Author Beth Howard draws similarities between baking a pie and making a documentary film. Then, we hear from the founder of the Middle of NOWhere Rural Art & Music Festival.
00:47:54 |
Wed 09 Jul 2025
How the Meskwaki People reclaimed their homeland
The book Red Earth Nation tells the history of the Meskwaki Nation, spanning from the Red Earth People's creation to the 21st century.
00:47:32 |
Tue 08 Jul 2025
A very moooving discussion on the domestication of cattle
For many of the domesticated animals we live with, it’s pretty easy to see how they might be related to their wild ancestors — but where did cattle come from? Later, farmer and author Beth Hoffman jo…
00:48:05 |
Fri 04 Jul 2025
Iowa's only jazz radio station turns 50
KCCK is Iowa's only jazz-formatted radio station, but it's influence goes beyond the airwaves.
00:48:03 |
Thu 03 Jul 2025
Discovering radical self-worth in a year of celibacy
A conversation with author Melissa Febos on her latest novel, The Dry Season: A Memoir of Pleasure in a Year without Sex. Then, an expert on Iowa's most famous Muppet.
00:47:59 |
Wed 02 Jul 2025
A dugout canoe gives Iowans the opportunity to touch Indigenous history
For thousands of years, dugout canoes were a vital form of transportation for Indigenous Americans.
00:47:55 |
Tue 01 Jul 2025
Maintaining your naturalist garden
A Des Moines-based planting designer helped readers launch an ecologically vibrant home garden. His latest book guides you through maintaining that garden.
00:47:46 |
Sat 28 Jun 2025
Celebrating 100 years of radio and the start of public broadcasting in Iowa
Charity Nebbe and her guests explore the history of WOI and WSUI, now part of Iowa Public Radio, two of the oldest radio stations in the country.
00:39:50 |
Thu 26 Jun 2025
Iowans band together to unearth and preserve mastodon skull
Last summer, University of Iowa archaeologists uncovered the first-ever well-preserved mastodon skull scientifically excavated in Wayne County. That was only the beginning of this community minded pr…
00:40:32 |
Wed 25 Jun 2025
A woman's 9-year journey to the finish of a 100-mile race
Julie Moffitt, 57, dreamed of running Western States, a 100-mile race through California's grueling Sierra Nevada Mountains. Almost a decade later, she made it to the finish.
00:42:08 |
Tue 24 Jun 2025
How to grow and keep your grass green
Horticulture specialists give their lawn care tips and answer listener questions.
00:41:04 |
Sat 21 Jun 2025
Iowa's significance on the Underground Railroad
Historians discuss Iowa's significance as a part of the Underground Railroad.
00:40:31 |
Fri 20 Jun 2025
Iowa's first transgender state representative shares her story
Rep. Aime Wichendal, the first transgender woman elected to the Iowa Statehouse, talks about being transgender in Iowa and watching gender identity being removed from the Iowa Civil Rights Code durin…
00:47:56 |
Thu 19 Jun 2025
How a shuttered Iowa college became the home of Maharishi International University
From 1875 to 1973, Fairfield, Iowa was home to Parsons College. When the school closed, it left a major void in the community, which that was quickly filled by an another — unconventional — universit…
00:47:52 |
Wed 18 Jun 2025
How the year 1963 transformed the Civil Rights Movement and the nation
A conversation with author Peniel Joseph about his new book Freedom Season: How 1963 Transformed America's Civil Rights Revolution.
00:48:05 |
Tue 17 Jun 2025
Diagnosis and prevention to keep Iowa's trees healthy
What's currently threatening the health of Iowa's trees and forests?
00:47:57 |
Sat 14 Jun 2025
Fiction, families — and bursting into flames
A conversation with author Kevin Wilson about his new novel Run for the Hills, recorded at the Des Moines Public Library.
00:48:07 |
Fri 13 Jun 2025
Iowan shares childhood schemes and dreams in debut novel
Today, we listen back to conversations with Iowan artist and author Luke Stoffel and Danish artist Thomas Dambo.
00:47:38 |
Thu 12 Jun 2025
Living Native histories in 'Warrior Girl Unearthed'
For the Talk of Iowa Book Club, author Angeline Boulley and expert readers discuss Warrior Girl Unearthed.
00:48:06 |
Wed 11 Jun 2025
A conversation with gay rights activist and Iowa native Sean Strub
In honor of Pride Month, we're listening back to a conversation with gay rights activist and native Iowan Sean Strub.
00:47:51 |
Tue 10 Jun 2025
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