What started out as a streaming audio show at Wired in 2000 morphed into The Downtown Writers Jam Podcast, the least literary literary podcast on the Internet. In 2021, The Downtown Writers Jam joined the Solid Listen Podcast Network, an experiment in bringing new voices and a general niceness to the world.
From The Bunker in Pittsburgh, author, editor, and publisher Brad King (or on Mastodon) hosts The Downtown Writers Jam, an hour-long, one-on-one interview program that will take listeners—and some of your favorite authors—on a freewheeling journey through their lives. Weaving through childhood, college, and adulthood, the conversations touch on contemporary issues, weird pop culture asides, and more often than not a deep reckoning about why each of us writers.
Starting in 2022, Brad launched two new initiatives: The Downtown Writers Jam Sessions and The Downtown Writers Jam After Party.
The Jam Sessions are a short-form, deep dive with non-fiction authors who have tackled an important or difficult subject. A little less freewheeling and little more depth. Brad will talk with authors to help listeners understand why these topics are important and what they need to know. The Jam Sessions will be released on the main podcast network.
The After Party is a short Q&A conducted as only we can do it in the Bunker. One part storytelling and one part cocktail party. These interviews are the kind of stories we tell after the first few drinks have gone down. The After Party will be released on the main podcast network.
And while we’ve closed out The Downtown Writers Jam Video Series, you catch up with some amazing writers and authors in our archives.
Listen
Check out the program anywhere you listen to podcasts.
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Beyond the Podcast
Follow us on Twitter (@TheWritersJam) for discussions about books, events, and literary happenings.
Join us for our monthly author happy hours. You can always sign up on the blog.
You can purchase podcast guest books through our bookstore, which helps support independent stores across American.
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