New York Times bestselling author Kelly Corrigan has emerged as a leading voice in American culture. In 2020, Kelly launched the podcast, Kelly Corrigan Wonders, which examines important aspects of lived human experience, through conversations with leading thinkers and engaging story. To date, the series has been downloaded or streamed by over 1 million listeners.
In 2020, AVDF provided funding for a ten episode series of the podcast entitled How Change Happens. The series looks at how American life and culture has evolved across a variety of sectors and includes of frank conversations about higher education, interfaith relations, palliative care, and much more. Each episode features one or more conversations with engaging thought partners who share specific, relatable, and actionable insights. Guests include Eboo Patel, Melinda Gates, Tara Westover, and a host of other cultural leaders. In the episodes, Corrigan uses her unique talents as a storyteller to energize, animate, and inspire listeners to make a positive change in their lives and in their own communities.
The series has been well received with each episode being downloaded or streamed over 50,000 times.
In 2021, AVDF provided a second grant to support the production of ten new radio/podcast episodes on the topic of “belief.” The aim of the podcast is two-fold. First, it will examine the ways in which traditional faith communities are evolving and new non-traditional belief systems are emerging in the 21st century. Second, it will provide a rubric for helping listeners to thoughtfully engage others on questions of faith.
The “Belief” series will be produced in conjunction with the Bay Area public media station KQED and will be sponsored and distributed by PRX. The format of the podcast involves asking each guest a series of probing questions to learn more about the guest’s religious/spiritual convictions. Each podcast episode will conclude with closing conversation and reflection by Kelly Corrigan and Eboo Patel, President of Interfaith Youth Core.
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