
The Yarn takes listeners behind the scenes of children's literature. Each episode features an author or illustrator talking about how they create books for young readers.
| Publishes | Twice monthly | Episodes | 258 | Founded | 11 years ago |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of Listeners | Categories | EducationBooksArts | |||

In this episode, bestselling author Sara Pennypacker takes us behind the scenes of her latest historical fiction novel, THE LION'S RUN.
In this episode, Newbery Honor-winning author Jasmine Warga takes us behind the scenes of her latest middle grade novel, THE UNLIKELY TALE OF CHASE AND FINNEGAN.
Welcome to a special crossover episode with Fuse 8 n' Kate! For their 400th episode, Betsy and Kate invited Colby Sharp and Travis Jonker to debate the longest Caldecott Medal book of all time: THE INVENTION OF HUGO CABRET. Is it a classic? Is it a p... more
In this episode, Caldecott Honor winning artist Elisha Cooper takes us behind the scenes of his latest picture book, THE RARE BIRD.
People also subscribe to these shows.





As a listener from Spain, I never miss an episode of The Yarn. Travis and Colby bring such genuine love, curiosity, and care to every conversation about books, authors, and the craft of writing. The way you celebrate stories and the people who create them, makes a real difference far beyond borders. Thank you for your dedication to the children’s book community and for constantly growing my reading pile. Colby, I also love your book talk videos on YouTube; they’re such a joy to watch! How I wish... more
The book joy is flowing in the short and sweet episodes! Such great conversations. Thanks!
This podcast makes me a better children’s librarian for my public library kids. It helps me discover books I haven’t read yet, which I then read and suggest to patrons. I also recommend The Yarn to the public school teachers I work with. This improves our relationship, which is already strong thanks to our shared commitment to children and books. I consider Colby and Travis partners in my work. Thanks!
The Yarn is my favorite podcast about children’s books. I learn about many new books along with books that have been out a while but slipped past me. Thank you, Travis and Colby, for all of the interviews and insights you share with listeners!
I stumbled upon The Yarn podcast in December of 2020, when our library was only doing curbside service and I was terribly missing the kids and their parents and hooking them up with books. It was a “pandemic highlight” for me—I listened to Travis and Colby as they reviewed the books of that year, and practically cried tears of joy! i’ve since kept up with it, and have listened to many of the back episodes, sometimes more than once (Gary Paulsen). Travis and Coby interview authors and illustrator... more
Key themes from listener reviews, highlighting what works and what could be improved about the show.
How this podcast ranks in the Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube charts.
Apple Podcasts | #193 |
Recent interactions between the hosts and their guests.
Listeners, social reach, demographics and more for this podcast.
| Listeners per Episode | |
|---|---|
| Gender Skew | |
| Location | |
| Interests | |
| Professions | |
| Age Range | |
| Household Income | |
| Social Media Reach |
This show spotlights authors and illustrators who create books for young readers, offering intimate conversations about the craft of storytelling, illustration, and publishing. Episodes frequently unpack creative processes, research methods, and the collaboration between writers and artists, often weaving in themes like empathy, history, and classroom relevance. Short-form interviews and behind-the-scenes discussions make it a practical listen for educators, librarians, and book lovers seeking timely recommendations, trends in children's literature, and insights into how standout works come to life. A notable strength is the breadth of guests—from debut picture-book creators to established authors—paired with thoughtful, accessible dialogue... more
Rephonic provides a wide range of podcast stats for The Yarn. We scanned the web and collated all of the information that we could find in our comprehensive podcast database. See how many people listen to The Yarn and access YouTube viewership numbers, download stats, audience demographics, chart rankings, ratings, reviews and more.
Rephonic provides a full set of podcast information for three million podcasts, including the number of listeners. View further listenership figures for The Yarn, including podcast download numbers and subscriber numbers, so you can make better decisions about which podcasts to sponsor or be a guest on. You will need to upgrade your account to access this premium data.
Rephonic provides comprehensive predictive audience data for The Yarn, including gender skew, age, country, political leaning, income, professions, education level, and interests. You can access these listener demographics by upgrading your account.
To see how many followers or subscribers The Yarn has on Spotify and other platforms such as Castbox and Podcast Addict, simply upgrade your account. You'll also find viewership figures for their YouTube channel if they have one.
These podcasts share a similar audience with The Yarn:
1. Creative Pep Talk
2. Design Matters with Debbie Millman
3. The Preamble
4. Fresh Air
5. Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
The Yarn launched 11 years ago and published 258 episodes to date. You can find more information about this podcast including rankings, audience demographics and engagement in our podcast database.
Our systems regularly scour the web to find email addresses and social media links for this podcast. We scanned the web and collated all of the contact information that we could find in our podcast database. But in the unlikely event that you can't find what you're looking for, our concierge service lets you request our research team to source better contacts for you.
Rephonic pulls ratings and reviews for The Yarn from multiple sources, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Castbox, and Podcast Addict.
View all the reviews in one place instead of visiting each platform individually and use this information to decide if a show is worth pitching or not.
Rephonic provides full transcripts for episodes of The Yarn. Search within each transcript for your keywords, whether they be topics, brands or people, and figure out if it's worth pitching as a guest or sponsor. You can even set-up alerts to get notified when your keywords are mentioned.
Recent guests on The Yarn include:
1. Jasmine Warga
2. Betsy Bird
3. Derrick Barnes
4. Katie Kennedy
5. Zeke Peña
6. Nicholas Day
7. Barbara O'Connor
8. Ruth Behar
To view more recent guests and their details, simply upgrade your Rephonic account. You'll also get access to a typical guest profile to help you decide if the show is worth pitching.