Pushkin's Julia Barton on The Best Audio Storytelling of the Year
Pushkin Industries VP and Executive Editor Julia Barton had a dream: To create the first-ever anthology of the best audio storytelling. Fittingly, it would be in audiobook form, and it would call out the most powerful and innovative stories of the year. Barton had already been shaping Pushkin's catalogue of successful shows for years — shows like Revisionist History with Malcolm Gladwell, Against the Rules with Michael Lewis, A Slight Change of Plans with Maya Shankar, and The Happiness Lab with Dr. Laurie Santos. As a lifelong journalist and editor, Barton is a master of story structure and story editing. She knows (and shares) how to engage listeners. Barton finally realized her dream. Pushkin recently released its first anthology — The Best Audio Storytelling: 2022. We go under the covers on how to craft and perform a great audio essay, with Jason Reynolds' My Mother Made Me; how to make a poetic audio documentary shine, with Erica Heilman's Rumble Strip, and how to be transparent about process, with the hit investigative podcast Will Be Wild (Andrea Bernstein).
Sound Judgment · Julia Barton, Audrey Nelson, Tina Bassir, Elaine Appleton Grant, Andrew Parella
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Show Notes
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Julia Barton is the executive editor of Pushkin Industries, following a long career in public radio. She helped develop Revisionist History and Against the Rules, among other chart-topping shows. She’s the editor of Malcolm Gladwell’s audiobook The Bomber Mafia, Michael Specter’s Fauci, and Michael Lewis’s unabridged Liar’s Poker and companion podcast. Her 2019 series for PRX’s Radiotopia, Spacebridge, was called “dazzling” by The New Yorker.
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Discussed on this Sound Judgment episode:
The Best Audio Storytelling: 2022
Foreword by David Sedaris
Get 15% off The Best Audio Storytelling: 2022 with the promo code BestAudioSJ15 here.
The anthology features many different podcasts. We examined:
"I Can Do Anything" by Jason Reynolds, from his Radiotopia podcast, My Mother Made Me
"Armand's Garden" by Erica Heilman, from her podcast, Rumble Strip
"The Tunnel," featuring reporter Andrea Bernstein, from Pineapple St. Studios/Wondery's Will Be Wild
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Credits
Sound Judgment is a production of Podcast Allies, LLC.
Host: Elaine Appleton Grant
Podcast Manager: Tina Bassir
Production Manager: Andrew Parrella
Audio Engineer: Kevin Kline
Production Assistant: Audrey Nelson