Spiralbound Productions

Created by Chicago journalist Alison Flowers, Spiralbound begins with inquiry, accompanying sources with an open notebook, bound together by the spiraling nature of uncovering the truth. These stories are rarely linear. Rather, they twist and turn through theme, mystery and knowledge. The truth cannot be extracted – only generated with a quality of care for the person and the process – a distinctive and discerning journalism practice. Prior to Spiralbound, Flowers was the Head of Production at the Invisible Institute, a nonprofit on the South Side of Chicago where she built investigative journalism and audio storytelling teams. In 2021, the Invisible Institute was both a Pulitzer Prize winner in National Reporting for Mauled: When Police Dogs are Weapons (The Marshall Project, Al.com, Indy Star) and a Pulitzer Prize finalist in Audio Reporting for Somebody (Topic Studios, The Intercept). Somebody (iHeartRadio) was also named among The 25 Best True-Crime Podcasts of All Time by Rolling Stone and received many other honors, including a National Magazine Award/Ellie, the Scripps Howard Award for Excellence in Radio/Podcast Coverage, Best Audio Documentary from the International Documentary Association, and the Third Coast International Audio Festival Award for Best Serialized Story. The podcast topped the list of Rolling Stone’s “Best Podcasts of 2020,” was first on The New York Times’ list of “true crime podcasts at the intersection of race,” and #2 on The Atlantic’s “The 50 Best Podcasts of 2020.”