Free Speech Advocate and Historian
Nico Perrino is the executive vice president of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) and the creator and host of FIRE’s So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast.
Nico's writing has been featured in The Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Politico, The Boston Globe, and The Guardian, and he regularly appears on radio and TV to speak about free speech and other civil liberties issues. He is the author of the forthcoming book, Let Them Speak: The Civil Libertarians Who Forged America's Free Speech Century (BenBella).
As a documentarian, Nico was co-director and senior producer of Mighty Ira (2020), a feature-length film about the life and career of former ACLU Executive Director Ira Glasser. He also worked as a consultant on Can We Take a Joke? (2015) and The Coddling of the American Mind (2024).
Originally from Chicago, Nico now lives and works in the Washington, D.C., area.
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Projects
So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast
An uncensored look at the world of free expression through the law, philosophy, and stories that define your right to free speech.
Mighty Ira (2020 documentary)
Amid high-profile controversies surrounding free speech and racial equality, former American Civil Liberties Union Executive Director Ira Glasser reflects on his life at the forefront of defending the rights of all Americans, from civil rights leaders to neo-Nazis.