UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- The journalist who created the popular podcast “Serial” will visit Penn State to present a free public lecture and participate in a question-and-answer session at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 27, in Schwab Auditorium.
Sarah Koenig serves as the executive producer and host for “Serial," which debuted at No. 1 on iTunes in October and became the fastest podcast to reach 5 million downloads in the history of iTunes. Koenig used the weekly broadcast to re-investigate the murder of an 18-year-old high school girl from Baltimore, who disappeared after school on Jan. 13, 1999. The girl’s body was found a month later in a city park and her ex-boyfriend was convicted of the murder.
With “Serial,” a 12-part podcast that concluded in mid-December, Koenig re-examined the case. The podcast included telephone interviews with the imprisoned ex-boyfriend as well as interviews with friends of the two teenagers, investigators and others.
Koenig is a Peabody Award-winning journalist who began working for the public radio program “This American Life” in 2004. “Serial” is a spin-off co-produced by Koenig and Julie Snyder. The launch and success of “Serial” provide an important and interesting intersection of journalism, technology and storytelling.
Koenig previously worked as a reporter at The Concord Monitor in New Hampshire and The Baltimore Sun. She worked for The New York Times and ABC News while in Moscow. A graduate of the University of Chicago, she lives in State College with her husband, Ben Schreier, an associate professor of English and Jewish studies at Penn State, and their two children.
Koenig’s visit is coordinated by the Department of Journalism.