The WBUR Festival: Full Schedule

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10:30am EDT

Leading in an Unstable World: A Conversation with Samantha Power

Saturday May 30, 2026 10:30am - 11:15am EDT

Tsai Performance Center @ 685 Commonwealth Ave, Boston, MA 02215, USA

The former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and USAID Administrator reflects on the changing role of the United States in the world..

Speakers

Indira Lakshmanan

Co-Host, Here & Now, WBUR

Indira Lakshmanan is a co-host of Here & Now.

Amb. Samantha Power

Former United States Ambassador to the United Nations

Samantha Power is an Irish-American journalist, diplomat, and government official. She was the United States Ambassador to the United Nations from 2013 to 2017, and the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development from 2021 to 2025.

Saturday May 30, 2026 10:30am - 11:15am EDT
Tsai Performance Center

Politics

12:15pm EDT

Judges, Law and the New Era of Immigration Enforcement

Saturday May 30, 2026 12:15pm - 1:00pm EDT

CFA Concert Hall @ 855B Commonwealth Ave, Boston, MA 02215, USA

Two former immigration judges dissect recent shifts — from the Supreme Court case over birthright citizenship to the large-scale firings of judges — and debate whether we’re witnessing lawlessness or a controversial interpretation and enforcement of existing laws.

Speakers

Simón Rios

Reporter, WBUR

Simón Rios is an award-winning reporter, covering immigration, politics and local enterprise stories for WBUR.
He joined the station in 2015 after two years at The Standard-Times in New Bedford. His first assignment at WBUR was to cover “Snowmaggedon,” the blizzards that led to the snowiest winter in Boston’s history. More recently he has covered the impact of immigration enforcement... Read More →

Art Arthur

Fellow in Law and Policy, The Center for Immigration Studies

Art Arthur is a graduate of the University of Virginia and GW Law School, former trial attorney and associate general counsel for the Immigration and Naturalization Service. He is also former oversight counsel for immigration for the House Judiciary Committee, former staff director... Read More →

George D. Pappas

Former Immigration Judge

Born in Charlotte, NC to Greek immigrant parents, but raised in New York City, George Pappas, the Principal Owner of Pappas Legal, PLLC in Asheville, NC representing clients in Western North Carolina and nationwide in U.S. immigration law.

Most recently, Dr. Pappas was appointed by US Attorney General Merrick Garland as Federal Immigration Judge at the Boston and Chelmsford, MA immigration courts between 2023-2025.Between 2003 and 2023, Dr. Pappas represented clients nationwide and internationally in immigration... Read More →

Saturday May 30, 2026 12:15pm - 1:00pm EDT
CFA Concert Hall

Politics

12:15pm EDT

The Room Where It Happens: Covering the White House in Real Time

Saturday May 30, 2026 12:15pm - 1:00pm EDT

Tsai Performance Center @ 685 Commonwealth Ave, Boston, MA 02215, USA

Three White House journalists pull back the curtain and share the tactics, pressures and ethical dilemmas of reporting from the epicenter of power.

Speakers

Lisa Mullins

Host, All Things Considered, WBUR

Lisa Mullins is the voice of WBUR’s All Things Considered. She anchors the program, conducts interviews, and reports from the field. Mullins is also guest anchor of the WBUR and NPR midday show Here & Now.
From 1998 through 2012, Mullins was chief anchor of the daily international news program, “The World,” co-produced by the BBC, WGBH and PRI. Her foreign reporting has taken her to Turkey, Morocco, Egypt, Cuba, Northern Ireland, South Africa, Hong Kong, South and North Korea and... Read More →

Zolan Kanno-Youngs

White House Correspondent, The New York Times

Zolan Kanno-Youngs is a White House Correspondent for The New York Times. He is on a team of reporters covering President Trump and his agenda. While he covers domestic and foreign policy broadly, his work focuses on immigration, homeland security, race and inequality. Based in the Washington bureau... Read More →

Tom Nichols

Staff Writer, The Atlantic

Tom Nichols is a staff writer at The Atlantic. An expert on international security issues, he taught national security affairs for 25 years at the U.S. Naval War College. He is the author of several books on international politics and democracy in America.
... Read More →

Jasmine Wright

Jasmine Wright, White House Correspondent & Co-author, NOTUS Morning Newsletter

Jasmine Wright covers the Trump White House and co-authors NOTUS’ Morning newsletter.

At NOTUS, she has covered the second Trump administration and Kamala Harris’ presidential run. She was a finalist for the Livingston Award for her incisive reporting on what went wrong inside the Harris campaign. She regularly appears on CNN, MSNBC, CBS and CSPAN to offer political... Read More →

Saturday May 30, 2026 12:15pm - 1:00pm EDT
Tsai Performance Center

Politics

2:15pm EDT

Stories of Justice: A Conversation with Bryan Stevenson

Saturday May 30, 2026 2:15pm - 3:00pm EDT

College of General Studies Auditorium @ 871 Commonwealth Ave, Boston, MA 02215, USA

The civil rights lawyer, founder of the Equal Justice Initiative and author of “Just Mercy” reflects on the legal system, racial justice and the stories we tell about our nation’s history.

Speakers

Tiziana Dearing

Host, Morning Edition, WBUR

Tiziana Dearing is the host of WBUR’s Morning Edition.

Prior to helping listeners start the morning with news from around the corner and around the world, Tiziana hosted Radio Boston, WBUR’s daily local magazine, for five years.

Tiziana came to journalism after a career that spanned academia, nonprofits and for-profit management consulting. She taught graduate students at the Boston College School of Social Work and chaired its program in Social Innovation and Leadership. Tiziana ran a start-up foundation... Read More →

Bryan Stevenson

Civil Rights Attorney & Author, Just Mercy

Bryan Stevenson is the founder and Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative, a human rights organization in Montgomery, Alabama. Under his leadership, EJI has won major legal challenges eliminating excessive and unfair sentencing, exonerating innocent death row prisoners, confronting abuse... Read More →

Saturday May 30, 2026 2:15pm - 3:00pm EDT
College of General Studies Auditorium

Politics

2:45pm EDT

No Laughing Matter: Satire in the Age of the Political Absurd

Saturday May 30, 2026 2:45pm - 3:30pm EDT

Tsai Performance Center @ 685 Commonwealth Ave, Boston, MA 02215, USA

Satirists from The Onion and The Atlantic reveal how parody, sharp humor and viral comedy cut through today’s news cycle — exploring the importance of humor when reality can feel like a bad internet meme.

Speakers

Mike Gillis

Head Writer, The Onion

Mike Gillis is head writer for The Onion. He's also written for The New Yorker, The Atlantic, McSweeney's Internet Tendency, Tricycle, ClickHole, and the Supreme Court (in the form of a recent amicus brief in defense of parody and free speech).

Ally Jarmanning

Senior Reporter, WBUR

Ally Jarmanning is a senior reporter focused on criminal justice and police accountability. She champions data and public records in the WBUR newsroom, reporting her own stories and working with fellow reporters on projects and daily news. She started at WBUR writing for Morning Edition and later... Read More →

Alexandra Petri

Staff Writer, The Atlantic

Alexandra Petri is a staff writer at The Atlantic. Before joining The Atlantic in 2025, she wrote a humor column for the Washington Post. She won the 2025 Thurber Prize for American Humor for her book AP’s US History: Important American Documents (I Made Up). She is the author of two other books... Read More →

Saturday May 30, 2026 2:45pm - 3:30pm EDT
Tsai Performance Center

Politics

5:15pm EDT

On the Front Lines: Covering Mass Deportations

Saturday May 30, 2026 5:15pm - 6:00pm EDT

CFA Concert Hall @ 855B Commonwealth Ave, Boston, MA 02215, USA

Three journalists share firsthand accounts of covering the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown — from congressional hearings to detention facilities and embedding with ICE agents and ICE watchers. Learn about the challenges, risks and ethical choices that come with documenting mass deportations in real-time.

Speakers

Tim Dunn

Lead Political Reporter, Boston Herald

Tim Dunn is a Political Reporter for the Boston Herald. He has over 10 years of experience as a journalist, covering local and regional news for various outlets across Massachusetts to national headlines during his time at Fox News.

Simón Rios

Reporter, WBUR

Pablo Manríquez

Editor, Migrant Insider

Pablo Manriquez edits Migrant Insider and reports for MeidasTouch. He lives with his dog Roxy in Washington, D.C., where he covers Congress, The White House, and the courts. Pablo is Chile-born, Missouri-raised, and Notre Dame educated. He is also a semi-famous oil painter... Read More →

Allison McCann

Data reporter, The New York Times

Allison McCann is a data reporter at The New York Times who covers immigration. Her stories often involve collecting and analyzing data to better understand the topics she covers. She also works across a variety of visual formats — charts, maps, photos, videos — in addition to... Read More →

Saturday May 30, 2026 5:15pm - 6:00pm EDT
CFA Concert Hall

Politics

10:30am EDT

12:15pm EDT

12:15pm EDT

2:15pm EDT

2:45pm EDT

5:15pm EDT

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