Kids who dream of writing a book will find guidance and inspiration in a new podcast. StoryKind was created to encourage young people to read and write stories. It was launched in January, and is available on podcast platforms.
StoryKind is hosted by Kate DiCamillo and Kelly Yang, two best-selling children’s book authors. Their many titles are found in classrooms around the world. DiCamillo’s include Because of Winn-Dixie and The Tale of Despereaux. Yang is the author of the Front Desk series.
KATE DICAMILLO served as National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature from 2014 to 2015.
DINA KANTOR
KELLY YANG wrote Front Desk, a New York Times bestseller, based on her childhood.
JESSICA SAMPLEDiCamillo and Yang got the idea for StoryKind in 2024 when they met at a library conference. Yang told TIME for Kids that they wanted to create a podcast that would help kids understand just how much fun storytelling can be. “We’re hoping that by sharing all the ups and downs,” she said, “we inspire people to want to give it a try and tell their own stories.”
Sounding Off
DiCamillo and Yang hope the podcast will inspire young listeners to embrace storytelling. There are lots of ways to do that, they say, even for people who don’t see themselves as natural writers. In each 15-minute podcast episode, they answer questions and offer writing tips.
For example: “You might want to keep a notebook just for you,” DiCamillo tells TFK. “You don’t have to necessarily work on a story, but writing in a notebook can help you make sense out of things that are going on in your life.”
“If you can write just for yourself,” she says, “it helps you clarify what you think [and] know who you are.”
The podcast also celebrates reading. “To be able to find yourself in a book, to think that some kid right now is thinking, ‘Oh, okay, I’m not alone.’ It’s the greatest gift of all,” DiCamillo says.
StoryKind is also about friendship. The authors’ chats illustrate “how amazing it is to be able to talk to someone and share all of your hopes and dreams and worries and doubts,” Yang says.
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