Three books that explore and celebrate the diversity of American culture were awarded Kirkus Prizes on Wednesday night, with each winner receiving $50,000. James McBride’s The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, a novel set in an eclectic Pennsylvania town in the 1930s, won in the fiction category. Héctor Tobar’s Our Migrant Souls: A Meditation on…

It has been 25 years since the body of Matthew Shepard was discovered in Laramie, Wyoming. The gay college student had been tied to a fence post, tortured, and left to die.  The murder drew national attention to violence against gay people, and attracted the interest of theater director Moises Kaufman, who turned the horror…

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday inaugurated the first church built with government backing in overwhelmingly Muslim Turkey’s 100-year history as a post-Ottoman state. The Mor Ephrem Syriac Orthodox Church’s opening marks an important cultural and political moment for both Turkey and its powerful leader. Erdogan drew widespread condemnation during his two-decade rule for converting…

Tourists at the Acropolis this holiday season can witness the resolution of one of the world’s most heated debates on cultural heritage. All they need is a smartphone. Visitors can now pinch and zoom their way around the ancient Greek site, with a digital overlay showing how it once looked. That includes a collection of…

The Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta has brought colorful displays to the New Mexico sky in an international event that attracts hundreds of thousands of spectators every year. The event started Saturday with a drone light show before sunrise followed by a mass ascension of hot air balloons. Over nine days, local residents and visitors will…

If stones could talk, sing and tell stories, Yogi Trivedi believes the marble and limestone that adorn the spires, pillars and archways of the stunning Hindu temple in central New Jersey would compose a paean to the divine. The tales these stones tell are those of seva (selfless service) and bhakti (devotion), which form the…

Human rights campaigners across the world welcomed the awarding of the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize to Narges Mohammadi, an Iranian women’s rights campaigner who is jailed in Tehran. Henry Ridgwell reports. …

When the megaphone called out for the daily Islamic prayers, the nonbeliever grabbed his prayer beads and ambled through the streets to join others at the mosque in Kano, northern Nigeria’s largest city. Formerly a Muslim, he now identifies as an atheist but remains closeted, performing religious obligations only as a cover. “To survive as…

Two children scribbled petitions to St. Gabriele dell’Addolorata in the sanctuary where the young saint is venerated in this central Italian mountain village. Andrea, 6, asked for blessings for his family and pets, while Sofia, 9, offered thanksgiving for winning a dance competition. Their parents bring them here often, and consider themselves better Catholics than…

The U.S. State Department is marking the 60th anniversary of its Office of Art in Embassies, a government partnership with art communities to promote democratic values. VOA’s Saqib Ul Islam shows us two of its traveling exhibitions that were on display in Washington. …

It’s been more than 20 years since “Spy Kids” made its way to movie theaters around the world. Filmmaker Robert Rodriguez has rebooted the franchise to attract a new generation. VOA’s Veronica Villafañe spoke with the director and has more in this report. …

Imprisoned Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday in recognition of her tireless campaigning for women’s rights and democracy and against the death penalty. Mohammadi, 51, has kept up her activism despite numerous arrests by Iranian authorities and spending years behind bars. “This prize is first and foremost a recognition of…

For years, Chinese officials have referred to the Tiananmen massacre as “political turmoil” and have attempted to make the violence of June 4, 1989, disappear. Estimates of the death toll range from several hundred people to more than 10,000, though there has never been an official tally released. Thousands more were injured by troops who…

A photo of Dick Butkus sneering behind his facemask filled the cover of Sports Illustrated’s 1970 NFL preview, topped by the headline, “The Most Feared Man in the Game.” Opponents who wound up on the business end of his bone-rattling hits could testify that wasn’t an exaggeration.  Butkus, a middle linebacker for the Chicago Bears…

Zimbabwean author Tsitsi Dangarembga received the Africa Freedom Prize in Johannesburg on Thursday, which is awarded to individuals who “have shown remarkable courage and dedication to advancing the cause of freedom, democracy and human rights on the African continent.” Tsitsi Dangarembga has long been one of Zimbabwe’s most highly regarded and beloved fiction writers —…

Norwegian author Jon Fosse has been awarded this year’s Nobel Prize in Literature. The Swedish Academy highlighted what it said were Fosse’s “innovative plays and prose, which give voice to the unsayable.” “His immense oeuvre written in Norwegian Nynorsk and spanning a variety of genres consists of a wealth of plays, novels, poetry collections, essays,…

It’s been 15 years since the world’s elite gas balloon pilots have gathered in the United States for a race with roots that stretch back more than a century. The pilots will be launching for this year’s Gordon Bennett competition during an international balloon fiesta that draws hundreds of thousands of spectators to the heart…

The 2030 World Cup will play out across three continents, FIFA, soccer’s governing body, announced Wednesday.  The World Cup is usually limited to one host nation, sometimes two. But 2030’s edition will be hosted by an unprecedented six countries:  Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.  Originally, Spain and Portugal proposed to host the 2030…

When members of a tourist group did not like the food in the only restaurant in Turkey’s ancient city of Mardin in 2000, their tour guide, Ebru Baybara Demir, invited them to her home for dinner. That decision created a whole new life and career for Demir. VOA’s Mahmut Bozarslan has this report from Mardin,…

Hollywood actors on strike want to limit the use of Artificial Intelligence in moviemaking, hoping for the same success as Hollywood writers, who ended their five-month strike last week after a deal with major studios. From Los Angeles, Genia Dulot has our story. Video edit: Bakhtiyar Zamanov …

Muslim comic creators are working to change Islamic stereotypes in American pop culture. Genia Dulot has our story, with videography by Roy Kim. …

The fourth edition of the World Culture Festival brought together hundreds of thousands of people from all around the world to the National Mall in Washington Sept. 29 through Oct. 1. First held in Bangalore in 2006, the festival continued in 2011 in Berlin and 2016 in Delhi. That event was attended by more than…

For 31 years Macedonian-born Sasho Cirovski coach has instilled his passion for excellence into the University of Maryland’s soccer program. The result is success on and off the field. VOA’s Jane Bojadzievski reports. Camera, edit: Larz Lacoma …

During World War II, the basement of Seattle, Washington’s Panama Hotel was where local Japanese Americans stored their belongings before being incarcerated in camps. For the Panama’s current owner, preserving its dark history became her life’s work. Natasha Mozgovaya has the story. (Camera: Natasha Mozgovaya) …

Colombian artist Fernando Botero, who died in September, was known for his plump, colorful and playful portraits of all levels of society – from a Colombian seamstress to crime boss Pablo Escobar to the pope. His ashes will be buried in Italy, but before that his remains made a stop in his native city of…

After several quiet weeks in movie theaters, four films entered wide release over the weekend. “PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie” came out the top dog, with $23 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday. The performances of all four films – “PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie,” “Saw X,” “The Creator” and “Dumb Money”…

Syrian writer and veteran government critic Khaled Khalifa has died of cardiac arrest at the age of 59 at his home in Damascus, a close friend told AFP.   Khalifa, who hailed from Maryamin in northwestern Aleppo province, was celebrated for his novels, television screenplays and newspaper columns, and honored with several of the Arab…

In northern Chile, Teofila Challapa learned to weave surrounded by the hills and sandy roads of the Atacama Desert. “Spin the threads, girl,” her grandmother told her a half a century ago. Aymara women like Challapa, now 59, become acquainted with wool threads under blue skies and air so thin that outsiders struggle to breathe.…