Image credit: Roxanne Gay speaking – TED
As well as checking out the podcasts that I have recommended below, I have also been working my way through the back catalogue of the New Yorker: Fiction podcast. Hearing David Sedaris read and giggle his way through Miranda July’s work is a real pleasure. So, that’s another bonus recommendation for you, give it a go; when you’ve done that, check these out:
Hear to Slay
This intersectional feminist podcast is totally amazing – that’s why I’m recommending it for a second time. The tagline reads “The Black Feminist podcast of your dreams” and it doesn’t disappoint. Here, living legends Roxane Gay and Tressie McMillan Cottom expertly and flawlessly combine razor-sharp discussion and critique of politics, social issues and pop culture with hilarious segues and verbal dissections of a range of topics.
Have You Heard George’s Podcast
George The Poet creates a mixed media masterpiece in his brilliant series. Combining music, story telling and fiction, GTP has made a podcast that is almost impossible to explain. In fact, the New Yorker called it “undefinably good” and we all know how much I revere The New Yorker… Candice Carty Williams has called it “unique, so exciting, so kinetic”. These two individual phenoms obviously have far more authority than I do. Listen to George’s series.
Shedunnit
This podcast brilliantly marries literature, specifically crime literature, with excellent critique. Caroline Crampton curates every episode with expert attention to detail, carefully building her podcast narrative to encapsulate, history, analysis and critique. She is a brilliant broadcaster, and in the same way that detective and crime literature can be totally cosy and comforting, so is this podcast.
The Moth
The Moth pod is basically a way for the radio show that shares its name to be shared with a wider (and very grateful) audience. On the radio hour, The Moth broadcasts spoken word narrative, promoting the craft of storytelling and emphasising the universality and diversity of the human experience. Every show begins with a theme but every storyteller has their own unique perspective on the topic, resulting in completely unexpected stories which are in turn very moving, very funny and often both.
