Anna Williams

English Ph.D. who pioneered the first-ever dissertation in podcast form. Has mushy things to say about the power of audio storytelling to build empathy and save the world!
Member since 2018

Location

  • Astoria, NY

Portfolio

Anna is available for

I love thinking through story structure, character, themes, and scenes in narrative audio projects.
  • Editing
  • Producing
  • Reporting
  • Scripting

About Anna

In 2019, I produced the first-ever podcast dissertation to earn my Ph.D. in English from the University of Iowa. Titled "My Gothic Dissertation," the project weaves together personal narrative, interviews with peers and scholars, dramatized scenes from Gothic novels, and traditional academic research to compare being in grad school to being trapped in a Gothic novel.

During grad school, I interned at Iowa Public Radio, where I produced and co-hosted the podcast Lit City -- an exploration of the sights, sounds, and stories that made Iowa City the first UNESCO City of Literature in America.

I now live in NYC and work as a freelance podcast producer.

Anna's Portfolio

My Gothic Dissertation
7-episode mini-series that served as my actual dissertation on Gothic fiction, in which I report on the real-life experience of being a humanities grad student and compare it to being trapped in a Gothic novel. Distributed in partnership with Lyceum.
Lit City
10-episode series that explores the sights, sounds, and stories of America's first UNESCO City of Literature -- Iowa City, IA. I produced and co-hosted this project during my internship at Iowa Public Radio.

Experience

Skills

  • Booking
  • Budgeting
  • Field Producing
  • Field Recording
  • Interviewing
  • Logistics and Coordination
  • Mixing
  • Producing
  • Reporting
  • Research
  • Scoring
  • Show Development
  • Sound Design
  • Story Editing
  • Voiceover

Equipment

  • TASCAM DR40-X
  • RODE NGT2
  • ProTools 12

Previous Work

  • Segment Producer, Queens Memory podcast at Queens Public Library | Queens College
    ((current))
  • Producer, What's Ahead with Steve Forbes at Forbes Media | Spoke Media
    (March 2020)
  • Producer, Lit City / Production Assistant, Talk of Iowa and River to River at Iowa Public Radio
    (September 2017)
  • Graduate Instructor, Rhetoric and The Interpretation of Literature at University of Iowa
    (June 2019)