Stories in Sound: A Podcast Listening Event

Join three award-winning audio storytellers for a live event at Norman Williams Public Library. Hear performances of passages from their shows and a panel discussion about what goes into making their evocative, sound-rich narrative podcasts.

Podcasts are audio stories that have been set free from radio. They are available free, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and with the help of your smartphone, they are portable!

Our panelists are members of the independent audio collective Hub & Spoke, who create narrative podcasts that weave together taped interviews, ambient sound, music, and narration to tell a story. Done well, narrative audio has the power to change minds and stir souls.

Vermonter Erica Heilman named her podcast Rumble Strip as a way to encourage slowing down to listen. Her conversations with dairy farmers, game wardens, hairdressers, and poets introduce listeners to people they would not otherwise meet and remind us of what we have in common. Rumble Strip is the first independently produced podcast to win a Peabody Award and has received rave reviews from the New Yorker and the New York Times.

Tamar Avishai started The Lonely Palette as a way to “return art history to the masses.” Each episode opens with producer and art historian Avishai standing in front of a work of art with a microphone in hand, inviting museum visitors to describe it to her—and to us. These vivid and accessible descriptions are followed by eloquent and accessible explanations of the art and the history of the artist and the time it was created.

Wade Roush is a technology journalist whose show Soonish explores the places where the future crosses into the present. By talking with inventors, innovators, and scientists he helps listeners understand how technological advances shape our lives and how they are in turn shaped by the way we use them.

“Hub & Spoke is a nonprofit collective of independent audio essayists dedicated to helping one another shine. The collective makes podcasts about art, science, history, language, politics, technology, business, media, current events, and the simple poetry of being human. Today, more than ever—as the founding notions of democracy come under challenge, as civic discourse seems to be breaking down, and as podcasters and other creators face growing pressure to sell out or bow out—there’s a need for creators to band together to defend and nurture great independent audio. For more information visit us at hubspokeaudio.org.”

***

This event is free and the public is warmly welcome to attend. RSVP (below) is appreciated as seating is limited. Please email programs@normanwilliams.org for more information.