The Hidden World of Girls

Series produced by The Kitchen Sisters

Series image
Image by: Shadi Ghardirian 

The Hidden World of Girls is an NPR series exploring the secret life of girls around the world. Girls and the women they become. Stories of coming of age, rituals and rite of passage, secret identities--of women who crossed a line, blazed a trail, changed the tide.

In the tradition of their previous series Hidden Kitchens and Lost & Found Sound, The Kitchen Sisters opened up an NPR phone line and asked listeners to call with their stories, leads and suggestions.

The stories come from unexpected tellers in unexpected places: a caravan on the outskirts of Dublin where we enter the hidden world of Irish Traveller girls. From the Tina Turner of Siberia who lives in one of the most remote, coldest and hottest places on earth. We peer deep into the earth to explore the secret world of termite queens. The double life of 10-year-old girls is captured in a story of childhood friendship and fantasy told by science fiction writer, Pat Cadigan. An Iranian photographer brings us into the hidden realms of modern Iranian women. We chronicle photographer, Deborah Luster, who got lost on a road in Louisiana one day and found herself at the gates of a prison, and over the years came to make thousands of haunting portraits of incarcerated men and women. We step inside the secret identity of Theresa Sparks. We explore the two worlds of a girl born the daughter of a Korean woman and a US GI. We travel to New Mexico for a kinaalda, the powerful and ancient coming-of-age ritual of Navajo girls. And we visit a young Estonian environmental activist who spearheaded a one-day clean up of her entire country. These are a few of the hidden worlds of women and girls that we meet in this international multimedia collaboration.

Call the NPR listener storyline, 202-408-9576, and tell The Kitchen Sisters about a pioneering woman or a groundbreaking girl. Whose story must be told? What are the traditions and rituals that bind a community and mark a girls life? Who is a making a difference in your neighborhood? On the planet?

Major Funding for The Hidden World of Girls comes from The Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the National Endowment for the Arts, which believes a great nation deserves great art. And from listener contributions to The Kitchen Sisters Productions.
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In the tradition of their previous series Hidden Kitchens and Lost & Found Sound, The Kitchen Sisters opened up an NPR phone line and asked listeners to call with their stories, leads and suggestions. The stories come from unexpected tellers in unexpected places: a caravan on the outskirts of Dublin where we enter the hidden world of Irish Traveller girls. From the Tina Turner of Siberia who lives in one of the most remote, coldest and hottest places on earth. We peer deep into the earth to explore the secret world of termite queens. The double life of 10-year-old girls is captured in a story of childhood friendship and fantasy told by science fiction writer, Pat Cadigan. An Iranian photographer brings us into the hidden realms of modern Iranian women. We chronicle photographer,... Show full description


2 Pieces

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Caption: Host, Tina Fey
Groundbreaking writer, actress and comedian, Tina Fey comes to Public Radio to host The Hidden World of Girls, two new hour-long Specials inspired ...

Bought by KCUR, New England Public Media, WCAI / WNAN Cape & Islands, Mass., Radio Catskill, 90.1 WFYI Public Radio and more


  • Added: Oct 03, 2011
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 132
Caption: Host, Tina Fey
Groundbreaking writer, actress and comedian, Tina Fey comes to Public Radio to host The Hidden World of Girls, two new hour-long Specials inspired ...

Bought by KCUR, New England Public Media, Radio Catskill, 90.1 WFYI Public Radio, Northern Community Radio - KAXE & KBXE, Minnesota and more


  • Added: Oct 03, 2011
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 159