When listeners tune into islanders Amanda Knox and Christopher Robinson’s podcast, “Labyrinths: Getting Lost with Amanda Knox,” they are greeted with the phrase, “Feeling lost? Then you’re in the right place.”
Knox and Robinson will host a live recording of “Labyrinths” at Vashon Center for the Arts (VCA) at 7:30 p.m. Friday, June 10, with a cadre of Vashon guests.
The podcast seeks to tell stories about people who have felt lost, and how they found their way again, said Robinson — a theme that is broadly interpreted by himself and Knox. For example, the sense of feeling lost may be literal – or it could stem from a situation such as infertility or illness.
According to the website for “Labyrinths,” Knox knows first-hand about finding her way out of a labyrinth of lies, emerging vindicated and free. She was famously and unjustly jailed for four years in Italy on murder allegations of roommate Meredith Kercher while studying abroad in 2007. Unfairly vilified in the tabloids and legal system, Knox was finally fully exonerated by Italy’s highest court in 2015. Returning to Washington, Knox settled down on Vashon where she and Robinson, a noted novelist and poet, are raising their child, Eureka Muse, writing and creating their hit podcast together.
In the past, Knox and Robinson have interviewed LeVar Burton, Dave Navarro, Malcolm Gladwell and Andrew Yang.
In creating their upcoming podcast recording at VCA, the two credit the assistance of Vashon locals, such as Voice of Vashon’s Jeff Hoyt, who helped them answer their question: who do you know on Vashon with an interesting story?
Included in this all-local lineup are The Beachcomber’s editor, Elizabeth Shepherd, Amy Carey, executive director of Sound Action, and Craig Beles and Truman O’Brien, who are survivors of a plane crash that occurred in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest in southwestern Washington state.
“[We] settled on those stories partly because they’re notably different versions of what it means to be ‘lost,’” said Robinson in a phone interview with The Beachcomber. “We got really fortunate to encounter some interesting people who have fascinating takes on the concept.”
It was important to Knox and Robinson to host the podcast on Vashon, being islanders themselves. The two moved to the island in 2019, but Knox’s roots on Vashon go back much further, as her father was raised on the island and her grandparents still live on Vashon.
This will also be the second live podcast recording the two have done, and they are eager to have the opportunity to host another live event.
“The immediate audience engagement is really exciting, and it brings a totally different energy to the podcasting experience,” said Knox. “So we’re excited for that.”
Following the interviews with Shepherd, Carey, Beles and O’Brien, Knox and Robinson will have a time for Q&A with the audience. After the event, Knox and Robinson will be available to sign their books, including Knox’s memoir “Waiting to Be Heard,” Robinson’s novels, and their joint collection of poems “The Cardio Tesseract.”
Tickets for the event, $15 to $23, are available at vashoncenterforthearts.org. Masks are required while not consuming concessions. Find out more about “Labyrinths,” and support it at knoxrobinson.com/labyrinths.
Note: In advance of their live podcast at Vashon Center for the Arts, Amanda Knox and Christopher Robinson will appear on a special Voice of Vashon “Morning Scramble” episode with Jeff and Cindy Hoyt from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. Monday, June 6. Listen on KVSH 101.9 FM or on voiceofvashon.org.
