Q&A With Your Queue: Jo Chiang
This week’s Queuesday Q&A with your Queue also lines up with International Podcast Day!
I love podcasts, if this whole website doesn’t make that clear. I chose a magpie because I’m not someone who is going to dedicate myself to one corner of podcasting. I listen to a lot of different shows, and yes I have what interests me, but magpies find beauty in tin foil, thimbles, coins, and ribbon – and I try to do that with podcasts.
I love how podcasts can tell stories, and I know I get wrapped up in non-fiction a lot. Autumn is my audio drama time. I have come to revel in taking this time to dive into the other side of podcasting. It always feels special and refreshing. It’s a treat to my ears to feel how different creators bend and twist conventions in the audio-only medium to suit their stories.
This Q&A is connected to a fiction podcast that doesn’t lean into horror. I know a lot of the top fiction podcasts can be creepy for an audience that isn’t used to, or into that world. Hearthbound is a great way to step into audio drama without being worried about being spooked or too grossed out (there is ONE episode in Hearthbound where the audio gets intense…). You can read my full thoughts on Hearthbound below.
Keelin
Thank you to Jo Chiang for hanging out in my imaginary coffee shop and giving me a few more podcasts to add to my queue. I look forward to continuing with audio fiction creators as Audio Drama Autumn continues!
As a little introduction, Jo Chiang (she/they) is the writer/producer and voice actor of Odessa in Hearthbound. She is a queer Taiwanese-American storymaker/agitator based in Brooklyn.
Q) What Podcast do you work on?
Note from Keelin: I’ve been chatting with Jo and honestly, if I still lived in New Jersey, I would try to have a literal coffee date with this human. I love so much of the thought and work behind Hearthbound, and the further insight has been a joy to touch on.
Right now, we’re talking about Hearthbound but you can find Jo in Station to Station and The Strange Case of Starship Iris as well.
Hearthbound Now Available on All Podcast Platforms
Note from Keelin: My queue will never end…
Q) What was the first podcast you listened to?
Welcome to Nightvale. I was in college when Welcome to Night Vale first premiered, so this show kindles an incredibly strong sense memory for me. From bonding with new friends I met at the campus science fiction society, to listening late into the morning in between cramming for finals, to attending the WTNV live show, which also happened to feature Dessa (whose music I had eagerly devoured totally separately at the time) as The Weather, WTNV's early seasons are such a time capsule for a particular moment of my life. I was learning how to be a human and figuring out the types of stories and the ways of storytelling that mattered to me.
Note from Keelin: I mean like…same on so many levels. This was beautifully put. WTNV opened me up to a possibility that I wasn't ready for.
Home
Q) What is the most important podcast you’ve listened to?
Country Queers. An incredible oral history project about the people in our queer community who exist, thrive, and resist in rural spaces and small towns. The podcast provides a window into the richly textured experiences that often fly under the radar when we talk about the queer life in the United States. As a city dyke who loves my friends and family who live and come from these beautiful places, I'm grateful that Country Queers tells their stories.
Note from Keelin: What Jo said, but louder.
The Battle Over Water Rights in Cuyama, CA
Q) What’s your favorite escape-pod?
World Gone Wrong. Just a delightful slice-of-life take on the apocalypse. It's like hanging out with your best friends when the world is a never ending dumpster fire and you're all figuring out how to get through it together. Oh wait.
Note from Keelin: Another one for my queue! I need something like this. Also, this cover art is SO MUCH fun.
worldgonewrongpod
That’s it for Q&A week, folks! Please enjoy all of the podcasts that connect to your spirit. Audio is amazing, and I love sharing it all with you. A reminder that if you want a monthly wrap up of my writing, to sign up below. If you really love what I do and have some spare change for my coffee fund, you can Support Me anytime.
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