(Valeriya)

Audio Work
Here's some stuff I've been making for radio:
The Sunday Story: When Water Turns to Sand
In Central Asia, the world's youngest desert occupies a basin that once held a vast saline lake. The Aral Sea.Up until the 1960s, the sea spanned more than 26 thousand square miles across two countries. It supported thriving fishing communities along its shores. But then, in the name of progress and development, much of the river water that fed the sea was diverted for agriculture. Now the Aral Sea has all but disappeared, shrunk to about tenth of its original size. The UN Environment Programme has called the Aral Sea's destruction quote "one of the most staggering disasters of the 20th century." On this episode of The Sunday Story, Above The Fray Fellow Valerie Kipnis takes us to the Aral Sea to try to understand what went wrong and whether anything can be done to save the little water that's left.


Once one of the worlds largest inland lakes, Asia's Aral Sea has evaporated into desert, dried by Soviet era irrigation plans. One village in Kazakhstan sits on the shrinking shores of the Aral Sea.

Once one of the world's largest inland lakes, the Aral Sea in Central Asia, has evaporated into the desert, its waters sucked dry by Soviet-era irrigation plans.

The water starved region of Central Asia is facing another threat to its beleaguered water supply — the construction of a massive canal by the Taliban across the border in Afghanistan.
(Full Episodes)
The Narrator

Banias is an 8-year-old kid living in Gaza. And she has a story to tell — many stories, in fact.
This episode was reported by Chana-Joffe Walt, produced by Valerie Kipnis and edited by Laura Starecheski.
Nine Months Later
It’s been nine months since Roe v. Wade was overturned. We talk to people who wanted abortions right when the laws were changing in their states. They had to wait for appointments, for money to travel or abortion pills. And during that waiting, a lot of interesting things happened. We see how much life has changed, nine months later.
This episode was produced by: Chana Joffe-Walt & Valerie Kipnis
Eight Fights
Nadia's family is split between Russia and Ukraine, which is pretty common. And when Russia invaded Ukraine, it didn’t just start fighting on the battlefield. It sparked family conflict, too. An intimate story of the war from writer Masha Gessen.
This episode was produced by Valerie Kipnis & Libo/Libo.
Five years after the #MeToo explosion, what’s happened in the lives of the women who stepped forward and went public with their stories? We tell the story of a teenager who spoke out against one of the most powerful people in her state, and what happened next.
Produced by: Miki Meek & Valerie Kipnis

Producer Valerie Kipnis follows a group of people who’ve just arrived at their new home, a tent shelter in the middle of nowhere.
Producer Valerie Kipnis follows a group of people who’ve just arrived at their new home, a tent shelter in the middle of nowhere.


Valerie Kipnis tells the story of 12-year-old Ilya, a Ukrainian refugee eager to figure out whether his hometown can still feel like home. He and his family return to Mariupol, a city badly damaged in the war, and now under Russian control.
Russian forces have besieged the town of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine. Shelling is constant. Most residents have fled. But there are holdouts who haven’t left yet. Producer Valerie Kipnis introduces guest host Nancy Updike to a volunteer evacuator, Kuba Stasiak, who is trying to get the remaining people out safely.


Reporter Chenjerai Kumanyika visits Savannah, Georgia to learn about the city’s popular ghost tours. He’s heard the tourist attractions actually include the brutal reality of slavery. What he finds is more sinister and complex than advertised. (23 minutes)
Produced by: Elna Baker & Valerie Kipnis
Prologue
Valerie Kipnis tells Ira about riding the subway, shoulder-to-shoulder with someone she knows quite well, pretending she doesn’t see him.
