| Storytellers Telling Stories | |
| Length: | Averaging 30 minutes[1] |
| Audio Format: | MP3 |
| Num Seasons: | 2 |
| Num Episodes: | 46 |
| Began: | August 22, 2017 |
| Ended: | August 14, 2019 |
Storytellers Telling Stories is an episodic podcast created and hosted by writer and showrunner Jude Brewer, harkening back to the Golden Age of Radio as a "theatre of the mind" experience with writers, actors, and musicians.[2] 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.[2] The stories are either fiction or nonfiction, exploring a wide array of storytelling genres, from literary fiction to science fiction to magical realism, and noir fiction.
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 Portland Book Festival pre-show, Lit Crawl, for Season Two, featuring Kevin Sampsell, Margaret Malone, Tabitha Blankenbiller, Jennifer Robin, Brianna Barrett, and The Colin Trio.[3]
Some notable appearances on the show are singer-songwriter, John Craigie, musician, Laura Hall, and comic book writer, Mark Russell. Several prominent authors have also been featured, among them being Monica Drake, Kevin Sampsell, Tammy Stoner, and Gina Ochsner. 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.[4]
The finale for Season Two is referred to as the "series finale" by Brewer, highlighting multiple storytellers from both seasons.[4] The finale features 27 voices reading the work of author Traci Foust,[5] as Foust had passed away the previous year.[6]
A "surprise unveiling" and "major announcement" was rumored for Lit Crawl 2019, listing performers from the previous two seasons.[7]
On October 22, 2019, Lit Hub announced a partnership with The Podglomerate, launching Storybound, a new podcast created and hosted by Brewer.[8] Season One includes musicians who originally appeared on Storytellers Telling Stories, alongside critically acclaimed and bestselling authors such as Mitch Albom, Lidia Yuknavitch, Matt Gallagher, Kim Barnes, Adelle Waldman, Diksha Basu, Nathan Hill, Caitlin Doughty, as well as a story told by Jack Rhysider, creator of the popular podcast Darknet Diaries.
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."[9]
| No. | Title | Duration[10] | Released |
|---|---|---|---|
| S1:Ep.1 | The Beast – ft. Kate Ristau | 0:08:48 | March 10, 2017 |
| S1:Ep.2 | The Curtain, The Needle, The Lantern, and the Piglet – ft. Jason Arias | 0:15:27 | October 10, 2017 |
| S1:Ep.3 | Itzá – ft. Rios de la Luz | 0:12:21 | Oct 17, 2017 |
| S1:Ep.4 | Love & Other Action Words – ft. DeAngelo Gillispie & Shane Brown | 0:15:29 | Oct 24, 2017 |
| S1:Ep.5 | Dark Shadows 1970 – ft. David Ciminello | 0:14:04 | Oct 31, 2017 |
| S1:Ep.6 | Narrow River, Wide Sky – ft. Jenny Forrester | 0:15:19 | July 11, 2017 |
| S1:Ep.7 | Summer of Slim – ft. Zach Ellis | 0:15:43 | Nov 14, 2017 |
| S1:Ep.8 | Heller – ft. Domi Shoemaker | 0:13:50 | Nov 21, 2017 |
| S1:Ep.9 | The Great Invader – ft. Daniel Elder | 0:25:48 | Nov 28, 2017 |
| S1:Ep.10 | Nothing to Forgive – ft. Kate Gray | 0:14:01 | May 12, 2017 |
| S1:Ep.11 | The Harvest – ft. Reema Zaman | 0:30:17 | December 12, 2017 |
| S1:Ep.12 | New York City And All That – ft. Davis Slater & Mark Bowden | 0:37:09 | Dec 19, 2017 |
| S1:Ep.13 | No-See-Ums – ft. Paul E. Lapier | 0:09:27 | Dec 26, 2017 |
| S1:Ep.14 | Still Clutching Maps – ft. Christina Butcher | 0:13:45 | September 1, 2018 |
| S1:Ep.15 | The Art Gallery – ft. Geronimo Tagatac | 0:23:56 | Jan 16, 2018 |
| S1:Ep.16 | Elegy in Water – ft. Gina Ochsner | 0:20:41 | Jan 23, 2018 |
| S1:Ep.17 | Baptism by Fire – ft. James A. Gilletti | 0:39:05 | Jan 30, 2018 |
| S1:Ep.18 | Barefoot in the Guadalupe – ft. Samuel Snoek-Brown | 0:26:38 | June 2, 2018 |
| S1:Ep.19 | Star Crunch – ft. Kate Ristau | 0:09:35 | Feb 13, 2018 |
| S1:Ep.20 | Broken Man – ft. Sean Davis | 0:38:15 | Feb 20, 2018 |
| S1:Ep.21 | We Didn't Know What Was Happening – ft. Jude Brewer | 0:16:22 | Feb 27, 2018 |
| S2:Ep.1 | I Don't Know What Heaven's Like – ft. Rick Hall & Laura Hall | 0:28:08 | Nov 13, 2018 |
| S2:Ep.2 | The Folly of Loving Life – ft. Monica Drake & Katelyn Convery | 0:31:54 | Nov 20, 2018 |
| S2:Ep.3 | Death Becomes Her: The Morbid Nonfiction of Jennifer Robin – ft. Colin Hogan | 0:22:19 | Nov 27, 2018 |
| S2:Ep.4 | Lifestyles of the Unrich and Nonfamous – ft. Brianna Barrett & Haley Johnsen | 0:20:48 | April 12, 2018 |
| S2:Ep.5 | The Instruction – ft. Margaret Malone & Hayley Lynn | 0:21:14 | November 12, 2018 |
| S2:Ep.6 | Blue Lips & Bloodstains – ft. Stephanie Strange | 0:16:24 | Dec 18, 2018 |
| S2:Ep.7 | Possum – ft. Genevieve Hudson & Luz of Y La Bamba | 0:14:55 | August 1, 2019 |
| S2:Ep.8 | Mugger – ft. Kevin Sampsell & Joshua Rivera | 0:15:22 | Jan 15, 2019 |
| S2:Ep.9 | We're Live! ft. Tabitha Blankenbiller, Jennifer Robin, Kevin Sampsell, Margaret Malone, Brianna Barrett, and The Colin Trio | 0:43:19 | Jan 22, 2019 |
| S2:Ep.10 | Say What You Will – ft. Jude Brewer & Karyn Ann | 0:08:32 | Jan 29, 2019 |
| S2:Ep.11 | Saved – ft. Felicity Fenton | 0:12:06 | Feb 19, 2019 |
| S2:Ep.12 | The Oscar Wilde Way – ft. Tammy Stoner & Pretty Gritty | 0:18:07 | Feb 26, 2019 |
| S2:Ep.13 | The Soft No – ft. Kimberly King Parsons & Fox and Bones | 0:19:43 | May 3, 2019 |
| S2:Ep.14 | Endings – ft. John Craigie | 0:16:40 | December 3, 2019 |
| S2:Ep.15 | Cousin Kay – ft. Michael Shou-Yung Shum & Talk Station | 0:17:41 | Mar 19, 2019 |
| S2:Ep.16 | I Only Cry With Emoticons – ft. Yuvi Zalkow & Corinne Sharlet | 0:26:19 | February 4, 2019 |
| S2:Ep.17 | The Fixer – ft. Adam Strong & Margaret Wehr | 0:36:31 | September 4, 2019 |
| S2:Ep.18 | Her Own Special Touch – ft. Jackie Shannon Hollis & Redwood Son | 0:22:20 | Apr 18, 2019 |
| S2:Ep.19 | My Cable Access TV Show – ft. Mark Russell & J Graves | 0:21:27 | Apr 25, 2019 |
| S2:Ep.20 | Twitch – ft. Suzy Vitello & Annachristie Sapphire | 0:25:25 | June 6, 2019 |
| S2:Ep.21 | Shape and Slope – ft. Mo Daviau & Laryssa Birdseye | 0:16:36 | Jun 21, 2019 |
| S2:Ep.22 | Another Way In – ft. Tabitha Blankenbiller & Moses Barrett | 0:18:25 | Jul 25, 2019 |
| S2:Ep.23 | Stories Never End – ft. Joanna Rose & Christopher Worth | 0:12:21 | January 8, 2019 |
| S2:Ep.24 | The Isle of the Dead – ft. Stevan Allred & Shane Brown | 0:24:10 | August 8, 2019 |
| S2:Ep.25 | Nowhere Near Normal – ft. Traci Foust & Maiah Wynne | 0:37:58 | Aug 15, 2019 |