Blanket Fort

Blanket Fort Radio Theater

A Storytelling Initiative from SIU Press in Collaboration with the SIU Creative Writing Program and WSIU


Blanket Fort Radio Theater (BFRT) is a collection of student-produced podcasts in the form of serialized audiobooks. The books chosen for BFRT are previously published titles from Southern Illinois University Press. In contrast to standard audiobooks, BFRT podcasts have a distinctive sound—an “SIU signature sound,” if you will—that features musical underscoring and many actors playing various roles giving the recordings the nostalgic feel of radio theater productions.

HOW TO LISTEN:
You can find BFRT podcasts on NPR One, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or the WSIU podcast page. At least one new episode will be available each week. Each episode is 15-18 minutes in length. Search for Blanket Fort Radio Theater. 

THE PODCASTS: 

A KNIGHT OF ANOTHER SORT–Available now!  
Based on the book A Knight of Another Sort: Prohibition Days and Charlie Birger by Gary DeNeal.
New episodes release each Thursday. 
(listen to the trailer here)
(purchase the book here)

SURVIVED BY ONE–Available now!  
Based on the book Survived By One: The Life and Mind of a Family Mass Murderer by Robert E. Hanlon with Thomas V. Odle
​(listen to the trailer here)
(purchase the book here)

THE UNDAUNTED WOMEN OF NANKING–Available now!  
Based on the book The Undaunted Women of Nanking: The Wartime Diaries of Minnie Vautrin and Tsen Shui-Fang, edited and translated by Hua-ling Hu and Zhang Lian-hong, and supplemented with material from American Goddess at the Rape of Nanking: The Courage of Minnie Vautrin, by Hua-lin Hu
(listen to the trailer here)
(purchase the books here and here)

MOTHER JONES–Coming soon! 
Based on the book Mother Jones, The Miners’ Angel by Dale Fetherling
(purchase the book here)

INSIDE THE BLANKET FORT
A behind-the-scenes look at the making of BFRT, hosted by Amy J. Etcheson and Pinckney Benedict, broadcast on WSIU Radio each Thursday at 8:43 AM and 5:44 PM
(listen to previous episodes here

CONTACT:
Amy J. Etcheson, Director
Southern Illinois University Press
[email protected]

Pinckney Benedict, Professor
SIUC Department of English, Creative Writing (Fiction)
[email protected]

www.blanketfortradiotheater.com

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MEDIA 

InFocus interview with Jennifer Fuller, 7-6-2020

SIU Today, news release