Award-winning podcast Queerstories back with Season 3 and joins the Acast Creator Network

Queerstories, the award-winning podcast celebrating the culture and creativity of the LGBTQI+ community, has joined the Acast Creator network. The podcast is part of a national storytelling project curated by Maeve Marsden, which also features a book and event series, and has become wildly popular over the past four years. It will now be hosted and distributed by the creator-first podcast company Acast.

Vulnerable and fierce, hilarious and heartbreaking, Queerstories features both professional storytellers and emerging talent, with each guest sharing the story they want to tell, but are never asked to — unexpected tales of pride, prejudice, resilience and resistance.

Jordon Lott, Acast’s Content Development Manager for Australia and New Zealand, said: “Maeve has done a wonderful job in building the Queerstories community and, as the home of independent podcasting in Australia, the podcast is a great fit for the Acast family. Knowing the connection Maeve has with her listeners, I’ve wanted Queerstories to be part of the Acast Creator Network for some time. We’re so pleased that Maeve has chosen to host Queerstories with Acast, giving audiences everywhere access to these important stories.”

Curated, produced and hosted by independent artist, writer and theatre-maker Maeve Marsden, season three of Queerstories has launched this week with the first episode featuring guest Sarah Tiong. Best known as one of MasterChef Australia’s favourite contestants from 2017 and 2020, Sarah Tiong’s passion for and love of sharing food is a joy to watch and be a part of.

Growing up in a conservative, traditional Chinese-Malaysian family and carving out a career as a lawyer, Sarah found herself facing challenges and expectations to overcome in order to follow her passion and create her own path. In this episode of Queerstories, Sarah shares the story of meeting the person who inspired her to apply for MasterChef Australia, and how sometimes the inspiration to change your life can come from unlikely places.

New episodes of Queerstories will be released every Tuesday. Upcoming guests include Samuel Leighton-Dore, Ellen Van Neerven, Liv Hewson, Omar Sakr and more.

Maeve Marsden, host of Queerstories, said: “With hundreds of episodes, the Queerstories podcast is such an incredible archive now, elevating the stories from the LGBTQI+ community that aren’t always heard. Partnering with a global leader in Acast allows me to bring these stories to more and more listeners — a perfect next step for the Queerstories project, as it continues to grow and further serve its thriving community.”

Acast — the podcast company that works with Australia’s biggest shows — will host and distribute the Queerstories podcast, making it available across all podcast apps and players such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts. Acast will also manage monetisation of the show through ads and branded content, as well as the growth of the show.

About Acast

Acast is the power source of podcasting, a global platform that offers everything creators and advertisers need to find and reach millions of listeners. Acast provides a creator-first, open ecosystem for podcasts that is profitable, fair and sustainable for any creator — from bedroom podcasters to celebrity shows or emerging influencers. Acast connects podcasters and advertisers through the world’s biggest podcast marketplace, offering reach to millions of immersed podcast listeners with host-front advertising campaigns, audio ads and branded content. Founded in 2014 by Johan Billgren, Acast now hosts more than 27,000 podcasts — reaching more than 310 million listeners every month and working with thousands of brands.

About Queerstories

The Queerstories podcast is part of a national LGBTQI+ storytelling project directed by Sydney-based writer and theatremaker Maeve Marsden. The wildly popular Queerstories events have featured at Sydney Writers Festival, Adelaide Writers Week, Mudgee Readers Festival, Newcastle Writers Festival, and Ubud Readers and Writers Festival in Bali, as well as at independent venues around the country. A collection of the stories edited by Maeve and published by Hachette Australia was launched at the Sydney Opera House in 2018. Queerstories celebrates the culture and creativity of the LGBTQI+ community, one true story at a time. Vulnerable and fierce, hilarious and heartbreaking, Queerstories explores the breadth of the queer experience, delving deeper into community and identity, reflecting on our histories, and contending with the potential of our futures.