Podcast Corner: Book Exploder and three other shows to check out this week
George Saunders: a guest on the Book Exploder podcast
Resident is a documentary series produced by Dublin-based production company Bear Print Media that’s four episodes into a 10-part run. It seeks to tell individual stories on identity, culture, and the immigrant experience in Ireland, each episode focusing on one person’s unique story - theirs is the only voice we hear across the 25 minute tales.
Series co-producer and sound editor Rob Flynn says: “From the start, our goal was for our contributors to tell their stories in their own words. Through their compelling interviews, we learned how the cultures they came from shaped who they are, as well as what their experiences in Ireland could reveal to us about our own society.”
Maureen, on the opening episode talks about the horrific racism she endured, having moved from Kenya to Dublin as a child, an incident on a schoolbus colouring her view of bus travel to this day. Tarek, on the second episode, discusses his journey as a medical doctor and being on the frontline during the Syrian civil war. These are but two of the fascinating life stories you’ll hear about on Resident.
Can Book Exploder do for reading what Song Exploder did for close listening of music? The idea: Authors break down a passage from their work to show us how they write. It’s going to be hosted by Susan Orlean, but for the first episode, she talks to Song Exploder creator Hrishikesh Hirway about a piece from her own work, the Library Book.
Hirway explains by way of introduction: “There’s so much to talk about in a book and there’s so much that goes into writing one - years of work, often - but by zooming in on one passage in detail, you can really learn something about how an author approaches their work and solves problems. Those granular decisions they make really let you learn something concrete about how their creative mind thinks.”
Authors coming up on the series include Little Fires Everywhere creator Celeste Ng, Pachinko’s Min Jin Lee, Deacon King Kong’s James McBride, and short story writer George Saunders.
You might remember Australian podcast, The Teacher’s Pet, from 2018. It featured the tale of Lyn Dawson, who went missing, presumed dead, and was a cold case for 36 years until the podcast came out. Now comes the series the Teacher’s Trial - Lyn’s husband Chris Dawson is now on trial for her murder, and the podcast is following the summer-long trial. There’s 14 episodes so far.
Another Aussie production is Liar, Liar: Melissa Caddick and the Missing Millions. It tells us that the titular Sydney woman has been missing since late 2020 in a case that’s captivated the country. But wait, what’s this - a massive Ponzi scheme and a $23m fraud that ripped off investors? Standard juicy true crime podcast fare.
