Irina Matchavariani

WBUR Newsroom Fellow

Irina Matchavariani is a newsroom fellow at WBUR.

Originally from the Republic of Georgia, Irina came to the U.S. about two years ago on the Fulbright scholarship to enhance her writing career. She graduated from the University of Missouri with a master’s degree in journalism.

Prior to entering the world of sound reporting, Irina worked in print in her native Georgia and in the U.S. Her favorite topics include arts, culture and human interest stories.

A traveler and lover of languages, Irina is curious to explore how people of different cultural heritage interpret the world. She has lived and studied on three continents and is a proud speaker of six languages.

Irina lives in Brighton with her lop rabbit named Bunny.

Recently published

A long line of people inches slowly around the corner at the Bowdoin Street Health Center, many waiting over three hours, to receive a COVID-19 test. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)

Stuck in a long line for a COVID-19 test in Mass.? Here's why

In many cases, "there's not actually a shortage of tests," says CIC Health CEO Tim Rowe. "It's really just the health care logistics work to stand up testing sites and...

Health

03:02Jan 7, 2022

A crowd watching a performance during a previous First Night Boston. (Courtesy First Night Boston, Inc.)

First Night Boston returns with music, fireworks — and vaccines

The annual First Night festival, back after being canceled by the pandemic last year, included a mobile clinic where party goers could get the jab.

Local Coverage

Dec 31, 2021

Snow guns shoot powder over a trail at Wachusett Mountain ski area in Princeton, Mass., in this 2008 file photo. (Charles Krupa/AP)

Ski areas expect a busy winter because of the pandemic and Olympics

Early season business is strong, as the pandemic continues to dampen indoor activities and the Olympic games in February boosts interest in alpine sports.

Local Coverage

Dec 24, 2021

Somerville Theatre, shown here in 2016, has remained closed during the pandemic with a majority of employees opting to take a furlough to hopefully extend the life of the theater. (Amy Gorel/WBUR)

Communities around Boston mull vaccine mandates of their own

Several cities and towns around Boston appear close to joining the capital city in requiring COVID-19 vaccines to enter many indoor spaces. Officials say it's important to have consistent rules...

Business

02:43Dec 21, 2021

The Wang Theatre on Tremont Street (Jesse Costa/WBUR)

Boston businesses and workers give mixed reviews to Wu's vaccine mandate

Vaccines will soon be required for city employees and almost anyone who visits restaurants, gyms, sports arenas and entertainment venues.

Business

02:37Dec 20, 2021

The entrance to the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center in the Seaport. (Adrian Ma/WBUR)

Conventions are making a comeback. But attendance still lags

The Massachusetts Convention Center Authority warns a full slate of events at its flagship venues — the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center and the Hynes Convention Center — does not...

Local Coverage

03:32Dec 16, 2021

Waltham's Julia Kern, pictured at a World Cup sprint event in Slovenia in 2019, hopes to make the U.S. Olympic team. (Darko Bandic/AP)

Mass. Olympic hopefuls try to tune out boycotts, pandemic restrictions and focus on training

The US and several other countries plan to stage a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics in Beijing in February to protest China's human rights abuses. That, combined with pandemic...

Local Coverage

02:13Dec 10, 2021

In this Jan. 9, 2017, photo, Christian Picciolini, founder of the group Life After Hate, poses for a photograph in his Chicago home. Picciolini, a former skinhead, is an activist combatting what many see as a surge in white nationalism across the United States. He's doing it by helping members quit groups including the Ku Klux Klan and skinhead organizations. (Teresa Crawford/AP)

The process of deradicalizing youth needs an overhaul. A former white supremacist explains how

Christian Picciolini has spent the past few years trying to reform white supremacists through a group called the Free Radicals Project.

09:41Dec 6, 2021

Tom Carmody as Santa this year. During the coronavirus pandemic, he's been sitting on a trailer that his elf friend tows him around on so he can wave hello to the kids at a safe distance. (Courtesy)

Don't worry, Santa Claus is still coming to town despite short supply

It's a bit quieter than usual in the North Pole this year.

03:19Dec 2, 2021

A photo from the Korean National Association of North America Convention in 1911. (Courtesy of Edward Chang)

How we lost (and rediscovered) the history of America's first Koreatown

More than a century ago, around 300 Korean American immigrants founded a new community in Riverside, California. But a little over a decade later, it vanished.

10:38Dec 2, 2021