Story Pirates Podcast Launches New Season Of Episodes Starting January 31

Gimlet Media's The Story Pirates Podcast, consistently voted as one of the top podcasts for kids, will launch a season of 20 new episodes on January 31. The podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever podcasts are streaming.

Each week, the crew aboard the Story Pirates' ship - including world-class actors, comedians, improvisers and musicians - takes original stories from real kids around the country and turns them into a wildly funny comedy podcast for kids of all ages. This season, which runs every week through June, will feature young authors, podcast hosts Lee Overtree, Peter McNerney, Meghan O'Neill, Rachel Wenitsky, and Rolo Vincent, the illustrious captain of the ship. Special guests this season will include John Oliver, Claire Danes, Franchesca Ramsey and George Salazar.

When we last heard from the Pirates, they had crash-landed on a deserted island where they encountered an old Viking named Siegfried the Orange, who promised to help repair the broken ship. Now, the ship is finally rebuilt, and the Story Pirates can head off into the sky. The first episode will also feature new original stories "A Hamster's Workday," by 11-year-old Nina in New York, and "The Boy Who Hated Kisses," by 6-year-old Victoria in Missouri. The season's overarching theme is "quests," where characters go on journeys in search of something they really, really want, according to Overtree, who co-founded the Story Pirates with CEO Benjamin Salka in 2004.

The Story Pirates' second chapter book for kids will also be published this month. Based on an idea created by a NYC-based kid, Digging Up Danger (written by New York Times best-selling author Jacqueline West; available from Random House on January 15, 2019) is a mystery/ghost story with a botanical bent and a young sleuth as the hero. Like Stuck in the Stone Age, the critically acclaimed first book in the Story Pirates Present series, this spine-tingling mystery doubles as an introduction to the basics of creative writing. With the help of Story Pirate Captain Rolo and the Mystery Creation Zone at the end of the book, young readers can find inspiration to create their own great mysteries.

Last fall, The Story Pirates released their first album, Nothing Is Impossible, featuring originally written and recorded tunes based on story ideas submitted by children. The album has won national critical praise, awards and radio play.

Wherever they go, The Story Pirates garner accolades from educators, parents, and kids alike. Their programming has served more than 500,000 young people around the nation. To learn about their educational programs, visit Story Pirates Changemakers at www.storypirates.org. Catch the Story Pirates live this winter and spring; their performances in New York and California are detailed at storypirates.com.