Sean Cole (born November 19, 1971) is an American journalist and poet. He is a producer for the radio show and podcast This American Life.
Cole is from the Boston area.[1] He grew up in the Unitarian Church.[2] In episode 660 of This American Life, "Hoaxing Yourself," Cole recounted how he spoke with an affected British accent from ages 14 to 16, a habit that sprang from his fondness for British programs like Doctor Who and Dempsey and Makepeace.[3]
He attended Marlboro College in Vermont, graduating in 1993.[4]
Cole's career in radio began in 1997 with an internship at the Boston NPR affiliate WBUR.[2] He went on to work there for nine years as a news-writer, engineer, announcer, field-producer, reporter and, finally, a correspondent for the documentary series Inside Out.[5] From 2006 to 2011, he was a contract reporter for American Public Media's Marketplace[6] and, briefly, a senior reporter for Weekend America.[7] He then worked as a staff producer for WNYC’s Radiolab[2] for a year and a half. Cole has also contributed to the NPR programs All Things Considered, Only a Game,[8] and the podcast 99% Invisible among other shows. From mid-2011 through 2013, he was a regular guest host for The Story with Dick Gordon out of WUNC in North Carolina.[9]
Cole became a contributor at This American Life in 1999, and then joined the staff in 2014.[5] He is currently a Supervising Producer for the show and serves as guest host occasionally.[10][11]
In 2021, Cole won the Best Documentary: Gold award in the Third Coast / Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Competition for his story "Time Bandit," which was also nominated for a Peabody Award.[12][13]
In May 2022, Cole released the poetry collection After These Messages on Lunar Chandelier press.[14] He's also the author of the chapbook Itty City (Pressed Wafer, 2003)[15] and other chapbooks. In the anthology, Starting Today: 100 Poems for Obama's First 100 Days, Cole's was day 95.[16] His poem "To Acropolis" was included in a collection of art and writing to benefit victims of the Boston Marathon bombing. In a review, Audrey Mardavich called Cole "a superb thinker: he can be irreverent when it matters most, he is inventive with his images and sounds, he is very funny".[1]
In 2019, Marlboro College awarded Cole an honorary doctorate in humane letters.[17]
Cole became an Internet-ordained clergyman in the Universal Life Church in 2001 and has performed more than 20 weddings for his friends.[2]