Saturday Samplers Book Group to Discuss "Serial" Podcast

Bernardsville Library’s book group, Saturday Samplers, will meet on Saturday, April 2 at 3:30 pm to discuss of the first season of the podcast “Serial,” a true crime story around which questions of justice still linger.

"Serial" is hosted by Sarah Koenig and was first released in October 2014 as a spin-off of the radio program This American Life. Season 1 investigated the 1999 murder of Hae Min Lee, an 18-year-old student at Woodlawn High School in Baltimore, Maryland. She was last seen on January 13, 1999; her body was discovered on February 9 in Leakin Park and identified two days later. The case was immediately treated as a homicide and Lee's ex-boyfriend, Adnan Masud Syed, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder. Syed's first trial ended in a mistrial, but after a six-week second trial, Syed was found guilty of Lee's murder and given a life sentence, despite pleading his innocence. In February 2015, three weeks after the end of Season 1, the Maryland Court of Special Appeals filed a decision allowing Syed to appeal his conviction on grounds his attorney had provided ineffective counsel.

The podcast has been downloaded millions of times, and the episodes can be accessed at https://serialpodcast.org/season-one. The series was co-created and is co-produced by Koenig and Julie Snyder. Using investigative journalism, Koenig narrates a nonfiction story over multiple episodes. It won a Peabody Award in April 2015 for its innovative telling of a long-form nonfiction story.

Led by Program/PR Assistant Evelyn Fischel, Saturday Samplers is a book discussion group dedicated to sampling various kinds of literature, including short stories, nonfiction, new and old novels, teen fiction—and now podcasts. Its goal is to search out interesting, noteworthy, and sometimes overlooked literary and narrative works. Readers can find information about the group and about the books and authors on the reading list at http://saturdaysamplers.blogspot.com. No sign-up is needed to join the discussion. Call the library at 766-0118 for more information.