Connie Walker, a Cree journalist from Okanese First Nation in Saskatchewan, is shown in an undated handout photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Connie Walker *MANDATORY CREDIT*
Canadian journalist Connie Walker says she’d love to find a new home for her Pulitzer Prize-winning podcast after Spotify decided not to renew it.
“Stolen: Surviving St. Michael’s” began as an investigation into the abuse her father suffered at a residential school.
It took home the Pulitzer’s audio reporting award and the Peabody’s podcast award earlier this year.
A Spotify spokesperson says in a statement that “Stolen” will complete its current season and the audio streaming platform will work with the podcast team to “ensure a smooth transition for wherever the series goes next.”
Spotify also cancelled another acclaimed podcast produced by Gimlet Media, “Heavyweight,” hosted by U.S.-Canadian writer Jonathan Goldstein.
Walker thanked all listeners and supporters of her podcast in a social media post and said her team was grateful to have had the space to tell Indigenous stories.
“We’d love to find a new home for Stolen – there are more important stories to tell,” Walker wrote in a post dated Wednesday.
Walker, who is from Okanese First Nation in Saskatchewan, tracked down priests from St. Michael’s Indian Residential School in Duck Lake, Sask., and spoke with survivors, including her aunts and uncles, about what happened decades ago.
She has previously said that winning the prestigious Pulitzer and Peabody awards felt like a dream. The Pulitzer citation described her podcast as “a personal search for answers expertly blended with rigorous investigative reporting.”
Spotify announced earlier this year that it was reworking its podcast unit and that it would be combining podcast networks Parcast and Gimlet into its Spotify Studios operation.
– With files from The Associated Press
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 6, 2023.
