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Nazko sisters give classic novel modern twist

Joelle and Shelby Wyminga adapted Little Women into a six-part podcast, to be released Nov. 14
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Little Women tells the story of four sisters and their trials and tribulations during the American Civil War. (Submitted)

A podcast is the perfect project for Joelle and Shelby Wyminga. The sisters grew up in Nazko and are celebrating the release of Little Women, an audio adaptation of the classic Louisa May Alcott novel.

Shelby said the decision to produce a podcast was rooted in their Nazko roots.

“Joelle and I grew up in a very rural community as kids and spent a lot of time either quite isolated or travelling,” she said. “We listened to long audiobooks and radio plays to pass the time, so this format is one that is very close to our hearts … we were excited by the nostalgic potential of this short series being like a little escape we can all take together, whether we are traveling or staying home.

The podcast is produced by the sisters’ company, Far From the Tree Productions, and will be released in weekly episodes starting on Nov. 14 and ending on Dec. 19.

“[Podcasts] offer an incredible amount of freedom in style, structure and accessibility — we thought it would be the perfect way to release Little Women,” Shelby said. “Initially, we were looking at a three-hour-long audio play, and we knew that would be a tough thing for audiences to take in all in one sitting, especially as there aren’t visual elements.”

Little Women tells the story of four daughters of an American Civil War army chaplain, and the novel has been adapted and interpreted many times over.

Joelle said she read and re-read the original novel many times while writing the podcast.

“Trying to navigate the expectations of lifelong fans while still being able to bring a fresh perspective to the story provides lots of challenges,” she said. “I tried to stick to the text that Louisa May Alcott wrote as best I could while providing context to the lives of the March girls living in the 1860s that most of us cannot relate to.”

The Little Women podcast will be available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube.

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Do you have something to add to this story, or something else we should report on? Email: cassidy.dankochik@quesnelobserver.com


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