A fairly comprehensive list of things people have paid me to do. Want to work with me? Send me an email at vrosemarshall [at] gmail [dot] com.
PODCASTS
Brooklyn Public Library
I was hired by Brooklyn Public Library in 2018 to create their flagship podcast Borrowed, a narrative show about superhero librarians, neighborhood stories and what it means to be a free, democratic place in today’s changing world.
In 2023, we launched an ambitious series about book bans called Borrowed and Banned. The series won a Webby Award for Best Writing, and was nominated for a Peabody Award. It was named one of the top 25 podcasts of 2023 by The Atlantic and nominated for an Ambie Award for Best Documentary Podcast. In 2025, we launched Borrowed and Returned, a series about the books that changed America. Borrowed has also received two Anthem Awards.
In 2021, myself and a team of children’s librarians at BPL won funding from the “Ready To Learn Podcast Accelerator” (a program by PRX, CPB and PBS Kids) to create a library podcast for kids, which launched a limited series in June 2022.
In 2020, I used funds from a BKLYN Incubator grant to run an audio storytelling workshop, co-produced with UnionDocs and audio producer Stephanie Foo; sixteen Brooklynites made amazing stories about the borough.
Flatbush Cats
In 2025, I worked with the cat rescue organization Flatbush Cats to write, co-host, and launch Underfoot, a six-episode series about the hidden cat crisis in New York City.
EDUCATION
I teach First Year Writing to college students at CUNY’s City Tech in Brooklyn, where we talk a lot about AI, learn the importance of the comma, and read Kiese Laymon. When I first moved to New York, I worked as an educator at the Tenement Museum, leading small groups through historical tours of the building. I’ve also led writing workshops for young people at Writopia Lab, volunteered at 826 Boston, and taught podcasting and radio to middle schoolers and high schoolers.
ORAL HISTORIES
In April 2020, in the midst of the city’s first lockdown, I worked with catalogers and outreach specialists at the library to collect nearly 50 oral histories about Brooklynites’ experiences during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. People felt an urgency to tell their stories of grief and hardship, and I’m grateful to the dozen volunteers who mobilized to record those stories, which are now accessible online. Several oral histories were featured in the Museum of the City of New York’s “New York Responds” exhibit as well as profiled in Atlas Obscura. You can also hear clips from the archive on two Borrowed episodes: “Stories from the Pandemic” and “Missing Them,” co-produced with Queens Memory and The CITY.
WALKING TOUR
I wrote and produced an audio walking tour of literary places in Brooklyn, which basically meant I got to read a lot of novels and spend too much time on Google Maps. LitHub published a lovely story about the tour, as did WNYC. I also helped produce an audio tour of BPL’s Central Library, with the expertise of longtime librarians and hardworking staff.
RADIO
Before coming to New York, I spent two years producing news segments for Radio Boston on WBUR. The producers and hosts there taught me everything I know about live radio and journalism. Perhaps my favorite piece I produced during my time there was a story about the dogs whose job it is to herd geese off the Esplanade. I also wrote and edited for Circle Round, WBUR’s podcast for kids.
EDITING
I might not be a writer without the mentorship and encouragement of the editors at Harvard Review. I started reading for the journal as an undergrad, and then edited book reviews there after graduating. I’ve also edited opinion pieces for WBUR’s Cognoscenti, and served as co-editor of Brooklyn Review‘s nonfiction section.
Virginia Marshall 