Anna Williams

English Ph.D. who pioneered the first-ever dissertation in podcast form. Loves to blend genres and push boundaries!
Member since 2018

Locations

  • New York, NY
  • Astoria, NY

Portfolio

Anna is available for

reporting/producing/editing stories
thinking through structure/character/themes/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.
What's Ahead with Steve Forbes
Weekly interview podcast hosted by Steve Forbes. Covers economics, business, politics, and even a little pop culture. As lead producer, I pitched and booked guests, led in-studio and remote recording sessions, edited tape, pitched and scripted new segments, wrote metadata and scheduled episodes in Art19, and delivered digital assets to Forbes teams for marketing.
Queens Memory: The Borough We Became
A 10-episode season documenting the experiences of Queens residents during the COVID-19 pandemic. Queens Memory is a nonprofit oral history archive supported by the Queens Public Library and Queens College. As producer and editor for "The Borough We Became," I pitched and produced segments, wrote scripts, and assembled episodes in collaboration with a team of other Queens audio folks.

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

  • Writer, Producer, Editor, 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)