''Storytellers Telling Stories'' is an episodic

podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...

created and hosted by writer and showrunner

Jude Brewer Jude Brewer is an American writer, producer, actor, and podcast host, best known for creating and hosting '' Storybound'' and '' Storytellers Telling Stories''. Brewer's writing has appeared in literary magazines, podcasts and short films. Ca ...

, harkening back to the

Golden Age of Radio The Golden Age of Radio, also known as the old-time radio (OTR) era, was an era of radio in the United States where it was the dominant electronic home entertainment medium. It began with the birth of commercial radio broadcasting in the earl ...

as a "theatre of the mind" experience with writers, actors, and musicians. Consolidated into seasons and released weekly, the episodes range from just a few minutes to about an hour, with most hovering around the 30-minute mark, beginning with Brewer introducing the title of the story and that episode's featured author. The stories are either fiction or nonfiction, exploring a wide array of

storytelling Storytelling is the social and cultural activity of sharing narrative, stories, sometimes with improvisation, theatre, theatrics or embellishment. Every culture has its own narratives, which are shared as a means of entertainment, education, cul ...

genres, from

literary fiction Literary fiction, serious fiction, high literature, or artistic literature, and sometimes just literature, encompasses fiction books and writings that are more character-driven rather than plot-driven, that examine the human condition, or that are ...

to science fiction to

magical realism Magical realism, magic realism, or marvelous realism is a style or genre of fiction and art that presents a realistic view of the world while incorporating magical elements, often blurring the lines between speculation and reality. ''Magical rea ...

, and

noir fiction Noir fiction (or roman noir) is a subgenre of crime fiction. Definition Noir denotes a marked darkness in theme and subject matter, generally featuring a disturbing mixture of sex and violence. While related to and frequently confused with ...

. The first season consists entirely of authors reading short stories or excerpts from their published books. The second season introduces a featured songwriter for each episode, where the songwriter will play a live version of their song that loosely ties in with the story and the Season Two theme of "Endings". Brewer hosted a live performance of the podcast at the

Literary Arts Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, plays, and poems. It includes both print and digital writing. In recent centuries, ...

Portland Book Festival Portland Book Festival (formerly Wordstock) is an annual literary festival held in Portland, Oregon, United States. The festival started in 2005, and is the largest festival of its kind in the Pacific Northwest. Events include author readings, wr ...

pre-show, Lit Crawl, for Season Two, featuring

Kevin Sampsell Kevin Sampsell (born March 17, 1967) is an American writer living in Portland, Oregon. He has worked at Powell's Book Store since 1998 as an events coordinator and the head of the small press section. His memoir, ''A Common Pornography'', was pu ...

, Margaret Malone, Tabitha Blankenbiller, Jennifer Robin, Brianna Barrett, and The Colin Trio. Some notable appearances on the show are singer-songwriter, John Craigie, musician, Laura Hall, and comic book writer,

Mark Russell Marcus Joseph Ruslander (August 23, 1932 – March 30, 2023), better known as Mark Russell, was an American political satirist and comedian. He is best known for his series of bimonthly comedy specials on PBS television between 1975 and 2004. H ...

. Several prominent authors have also been featured, among them being Monica Drake, Kevin Sampsell, Tammy Stoner, and

Gina Ochsner Gina Ochsner (born 1970) is an American author best known for her story collection ''The Necessary Grace to Fall'', which won the Flannery O'Connor Award in 2001, and her novel ''The Russian Dream Book of Colour and Flight'' (2009). Ochsner is a n ...

. Season Two also features Luz from the Tender Loving Empire band, Y La Bamba. The opening theme of the podcast begins with Brewer explaining the many different ways that listeners can experience a podcast, either through phone speakers, a car stereo, or earbuds. Two episodes introductions have deviated from this format, both episodes credited with Brewer as the featured performer. The finale for Season Two deviates the most, both lacking the show's intro music and featuring an extended monologue from Brewer. The musical score for each episode in Season Two generally utilizes warped and distorted instruments sourced from the featured musician's song.

2019: series finale and ''Storybound''

The finale for Season Two is referred to as the "series finale" by Brewer, highlighting multiple storytellers from both seasons. The finale features 27 voices reading the work of author Traci Foust, as Foust had passed away the previous year. A "surprise unveiling" and "major announcement" was rumored for Lit Crawl 2019, listing performers from the previous two seasons. On October 22, 2019, ''

Lit Hub ''Literary Hub'' or ''LitHub'' is a daily literary website that was launched in 2015 by Grove Atlantic president and publisher Morgan Entrekin, American Society of Magazine Editors Hall of Fame editor Terry McDonell, and ''Electric Literature'' ...

'' announced a partnership with The Podglomerate, launching ''

Storybound ''Storybound'' is a podcast created, produced, and hosted by Jude Brewer, with original music composed for each episode. The show is a collaboration between ''Lit Hub'' and The Podglomerate podcast network, featuring household names and Pulitze ...

'', a new podcast created and hosted by Brewer. Season One includes musicians who originally appeared on ''Storytellers Telling Stories'', alongside critically acclaimed and bestselling authors such as

Mitch Albom Mitchell David Albom (born May 23, 1958) is an American author, journalist, and musician. As of 2021, he has sold 40 million books worldwide. Having achieved national recognition for sports writing in his early career, he turned to writing inspi ...

Lidia Yuknavitch Lidia Yuknavitch ( ; born June 18, 1963) is an American writer, teacher and editor based in Oregon. She is the author of the memoir '' The Chronology of Water'', and the novels ''The Small Backs of Children,'' '' Dora: A Headcase,'' and ''The Bo ...

, Matt Gallagher,

Kim Barnes Kim Barnes (born 1958 in Lewiston, Idaho) is a contemporary American author of fiction, memoir, and personal essays. She served as Poet Laureate of Idaho. Life She returned with her mother to their logging camp on Orofino Creek in the Clearwat ...

Adelle Waldman Adelle Waldman is an American novelist, columnist and blogger. Her first novel, '' The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P.'', was published in 2013. Life and education Waldman was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1977. She has one brother, Steve Ran ...

, Diksha Basu, Nathan Hill,

Caitlin Doughty Caitlin Marie Doughty (born August 19, 1984) is an American mortician, author, blogger, YouTuber, and advocate for death acceptance and the reform of Western funeral industry practices. She is the owner of Clarity Funerals and Cremation of Los ...

, as well as a story told by Jack Rhysider, creator of the popular podcast ''

Darknet Diaries ''Darknet Diaries'' is an investigative podcast created by Jack Rhysider (), chronicling true stories about crackers, malware, botnets, cryptography, cryptocurrency, cybercrime, and Internet privacy, all subjects falling under the umbrella of ...

''. The new show aired December 3, exploring "everything from family life to friendship, relationships to histories, and how everything in life can be impacted by the power of a good story."

Episodes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Storytellers Telling Stories Audio podcasts 2017 podcast debuts Arts podcasts Music podcasts 2019 podcast endings

2019: series finale and ''Storybound''

Episodes

See also

References

External links