The Hidden World of Girls: Girls and the Women They Become

Groundbreaking writer, actress and comedian, Tina Fey comes to public radio to host The Hidden World of Girls, two new hour-long specials inspired by the NPR series heard on Morning Edition and All Things Considered. From the dunes of the Sahara to a slumber party in Manhattan, from the dancehalls of Jamaica to a racetrack in Ramallah, Tina Fey takes us around the world into the secret life of girls and the women they become. These specials are produced by Peabody Award-winning producers, The Kitchen Sisters (Davia Nelson & Nikki Silva), in collaboration with NPR reporters and foreign correspondents, independent producers and listeners around the world.

Stories in hour one include:

• The story of The Braveheart Women’s Society: Coming of Age in South Dakota, a journey to a four-day rite of passage ceremony for Sioux girls from the banks of the Missouri River.
• From the foothills of Dublin, The Hidden World of Traveller Girls. Travellers, the gypsies of Ireland, nomads traveling in caravans, camping by the side of the road. The men live for horses, the girls for their weddings. Big elaborate weddings.
• We travel to Wayne County, Mississippi into the world of Girls Who Hunt.
• We grapple with issues of family, crime, violence and reckoning in the story, Deborah Luster: One Big Self
• Russia’s Singing Babushkas—a group of elderly women from Buranovo, Russia, who began singing together and who have become a musical sensation at concerts performing Beatles songs.
• And science fiction stories of friendship, superpowers and the Beatles.

Stories in hour two include:

• Horses, Unicorns and Dolphins—a story of girlhood fantasy and aspiration.
• From Afghanistan we enter The Hidden World of Kandahar Girls—girls and young women going to school, working towards careers, standing up to the threats of the Taliban.
• We explore the mysterious universe of women’s bodies in the story, Chicken Pills: The Hidden World of Jamaican Girls where homegrown cosmetic treatments and changing ideals of beauty are part of a national debate going on in the music, in the dancehalls and on the streets.
• Nigerian writer, Chris Abani tells the story of his English-born mother, Daphne Mae Hunt, who enlists him at age 8 to be her translator in rural Nigeria as she goes door-to-door into the villages teaching women the Billings Ovulation Method of birth control.
• In San Francisco, we step inside the secret identity of Theresa Sparks.
• We visit Tiina Urm, a young Estonian environmental activist who spearheaded a one-day clean up of her entire country.
• We meet Amira Al-Sharif from Yemen who came to New York City to document the lives of young American women.
• We go back stage with singer Janelle Monae and hear about her songwriting process.