Suzanne Perez
News DirectorSuzanne Perez is KMUW's News Director, overseeing our staff of reporters and hosting our weekly feature program, The Range. She previously covered education for KMUW and the Kansas News Service. Before moving to public radio in 2021, Suzanne worked more than 30 years at The Wichita Eagle, where she reported on schools and a variety of other topics.
Suzanne also reviews books for KMUW, co-hosts the Books & Whatnot podcast and helps lead the station’s monthly Literary Feast book club. She created the #ReadICT Reading Challenge, an annual partnership with the Wichita Public Library and The Wichita Eagle that encourages adults to read more broadly.
In her free time, Suzanne enjoys cooking and traveling with her husband, Andy, playing fetch with their Labrador retrievers, Zeke and Raina, and snuggling with her cat, the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.
Suzanne has been honored with a National Edward R. Murrow Award, a national Society of Professional Journalists award, and a national Public Media Journalists Association award, as well as numerous honors from the Kansas Association of Broadcasters.
Suzanne can be reached by email at perez@kmuw.org.
-
At Walk Your Plans Wichita, an immersive technology service, clients project blueprints of new home builds or remodels onto the floor and walls of a giant warehouse to test proportions and gauge traffic flow before construction begins. -
Expanding our reading gives us insight into other people's experiences, and that builds kindness and empathy. -
"Country People" is not a rehash of "North Woods," but it exists in a similar magical universe. -
Barbecue people are a devout bunch, rising before dawn to light their altars of smoke and trusting that time, temperature and the perfect rub will turn a simple piece of meat into a masterpiece. -
Had I intentionally planted sunflowers in our garden, I doubt they would have survived. -
Ballet is an art form. And costuming a ballet is a specialized craft that involves cutting, sewing, structural engineering, and lots of math. -
America's milestone birthday has prompted Kansas historians to reflect on our own state’s history. -
Ann Patchett's new novel, "Whistler," is not a horse book. But it is a tender account of a family’s past, including secrets, misconceptions, and traumas both major and minor. -
Julia Langbein's new novel, "Dear Monica Lewinsky," is part comedy, part fairy tale, part historical reckoning — a clever and creative work that will have you rethinking much of what you have come to believe. -
The new name pays homage to bathtub races on the Arkansas River that once were a signature event during the Wichita River Festival.
