I love What's Poppin' Penny? because it resonates with me as a person from an intergenerational household. I also love Penny's sense of wonder and this episode and all its parts reminds me of my family – the ones that raised me and the ancestors that raised them.

Keisha TK Dutes (she/her)

Philo's Future Media

If you haven't listened to season one of Weight for It, make better life choices. Season two kicks off with a banger that will break your heart. It's about Ronald grieving the death of his mom Peggy Lee - and how sickness can transform your relationship with seeing someone lose weight. Ronald can peel a bag of complex emotions like no one else. He's ruthless yet compassionate, in a way that makes me want to do better with my own shit. The show also has range. Yes, I cried in episode one, but I also laughed out loud several times during episode four "FFG" - a feat for narrative nonfiction! This is a gem of a show that's endlessly curious and full of heart. 

Yowei Shaw (she/her)

Proxy

“We’re in a situation that humanity’s never been in before”. Through a conversation between Jess Serrante, a climate activist, and her 95 year old friend Joanna Macy, a legendary eco-spiritual teacher, We Are The Great Turning doesn’t present itself as a podcast about hope. It’s about so many positive possibilities and finding our way back to them when we feel lost or defeated. There’s something about hearing Joanna’s perspectives on our world and where we go from here that captivates my attention. Maybe it’s the audiophile in me loving the aged qualities of her voice. The production style is simple but perfectly pulled together with heartfelt narration from Jess and the occasional soft music in the background. It feels like the safe and comforting space that’s needed when trying process just how big the climate crisis is. It’s been 50 years since Joanna felt the deep grief and dread for the way we treat our planet. Fifty years since she felt the way we do now. I found myself hanging on their every word and as emotional as it was, I couldn’t tear myself away from listening. The feed also includes bonus episodes that are special exercises you can do with a friend to reconnect with yourself and the planet. Jess and Joanna want people to find community, form podcast clubs, and work together to hopefully lessen the doom and gloom.

Devin Andrade (she/her)

Tink Media

This season of The Heart is especially moving, beautiful, and urgent. Together with young Palestinian students, artists, and activists, Kaitlin Prest has adapted the Gaza Monologues into an audio format. It's an incredible bridge between two crafts – theater and audio - and across time and conflict, as each episode features a guest reading words written by Gazan children over ten years ago.

Anna Oakes (she/her)

This look into the largest scholarship competition in the United States woke my heart back up to the state of limited series in audio so brightly, it revived my long-dead newsletter just so I could talk about how much I love it. Follow Shima Oliaee, former contestant and current judge, as she and her producers take a look into what being a teen girl is like right now -- including a timely twist that makes this beautiful listen even more poignant. The Competition is everything I had been craving and missing in audio without even realizing it.

Wil Williams (they/them)

Tink Media and Hug House Productions

In my opinion Blindboy is the best audio storyteller I know. He's not for everyone but my gosh is he perfect for me. He mixes history, personal experience, philosophy, and mental health all into a beautiful tale, in which we go on adventures and learn quite a bit about life and ourselves.

Jack Rhysider (he/him)

Ashley Hamer takes taboo topics and does her best to normalize them. Earlier this year, she released an entire series on kinks and fetishes and it's mind blowing. It's also brave. She touches on several subjects that might be seen as "hard to defend," and she introduces us to real people who humanize these topics. This episode is a great way to jump into the series, get a taste of Ashley's writing and voicing, and to be entertained!

Arielle Nissenblatt (she/her)

EarBuds Podcast Collective

If you’re passionate about sewing, quilting, or simply love hearing inspiring stories, Stitch Please is a must-listen! Lisa Woolfork is a phenomenal host and she is an associate professor of English specializing in African American literature and culture. I enjoy Stitch Please because of the vast connection of craft, culture, creativity and technique- all from a black femme lens. I really enjoyed the quilting episodes that Lisa produced featuring Dr. Jennifer Hale, an accomplished quilter and dedicated educator who reflected on the importance of community in her craft and how quilting became a source of joy and solace, especially during challenging times. (It's a two parter- but worth the listen.)

Faybeo'n Mickens (she/her)

Tink Media

Every time I explain Proxy, people either get it or they don't, and host Yowei Shaw has the exact same challenge. It's weighting on her in a different way, though, since it's the crux of whether or not she can keep making her emotionally investigative podcast about the life-changing power of conversation by proxy. With Proxy, we are listening into universal conversations that almost always happen privately. Turns out, propping open the door on verbal processing with deliberately chosen intermediaries as representative figures makes us smarter, kinder, and wiser. And in a way, the show is an exploratory encapsulation of the last several years in podcasting from a human angle, too–the show starts with the very personal narrative of Yowei's layoff from NPR's Invisibilia that ultimately becomes her journey to making this show. Turns out, podcasting was right all along: listening into previously unheard conversations does make us more empathic.

Ma’ayan Plaut (she/her)

Pretendians is a witty podcast series from Canadaland that examines issues of identity fraud in Indigenous communities. Co-hosts Robert Jago (Kwantlen First Nation and Nooksack Indian Tribe) and Angel Ellis (Muscogee (Creek) Nation) bring both humor and cultural understanding, unpacking serious topics with grace. The series is thoroughly researched, making it a great introduction to the complexities of Indigenous identities.

Adreanna Rodriguez (she/her)

Independent Journalist-Producer

"This is a sonic scrapbook, a passport to roam, following a pull to tune into the pulse of place. To get closer to the ground, befriending strangers along the way." From the moment producer Lina Prestwood gave me the privilege of listening to the opening episode of Lowlines, I was captivated. I'd never come across such a beautiful, engaging, rich exploration of what it means to be truly within a place and to engage with the people there. At a time when we live in a world where everything is fast and increasingly impersonal, this podcast series is a brilliant source of connection to places you might not have been: it's a sonic tour of - amongst others - New Orleans, Arizona, Louisiana, Mexico City and the Peruvian jungle that will make you feel alive and hopeful, and get you closer to the ground on which we live.

Naomi Mellor (she/her)

Everybody Media

Most folks may recognize host Emily Kwong as host of NPR's science podcast Short Wave, but with Inheriting she has made it clear that she has a personal story to tell, and the very heart of it is about belonging. I love that Emily made a choice to not only work through her own history, but that she brought other Asian Americans along on their own oral history journeys. In general, the attention paid to the histories of marginalized identities in this country is lacking, and I say this as a Black American: Asian Americans are often left out of the conversation entirely. This is why I recommended starting with the episode on Japanese American incarceration, something that I'm sure many Americans are unaware of. And if you want to know more, Emily's team, in addition to providing how-to guides on how to do your own oral history, has incorporated curriculum materials from the Asian American Education Project into their show notes. Now that's impact.

Ayo Oti (she/her)

Sounds Like Impact

Multicultural supernatural audio drama with queer relationships that melt my heart, that's what Hi Nay brings to the audio space. I've been following this podcast for a few years now and it just keeps getting better and better. The storyline combines a modern day narrative that takes place in Canada but there are a lot of flashbacks to the main character's upbringing and supernatural training in the Philippines. I initially started to listen for the supernatural elements, and those are very interesting, but I'm now still listening for the relationships between the characters, both romantic and non-romantic. The writing is exquisite. This is one podcast I recommend often for this reason. It's so unique and well made.

Stephanie Fuccio (she/her)

Coffeelike Media

Kwesia is an incredible host for the latest season of Get Birding. The series is incredibly warm and uplifting. Listening in really makes you reflect on your relationship with nature. As a city-dweller I found myself really taking in the bird song, the color of the leaves and the little creepy crawlies that just exist in and around my home. It's very successful at grounding you in the present moment.

Imriel Morgan (she/her)

Content is Queen

I followed Chenjerai's work from Uncivil because he has a habit of surprising me with the bits of history that I don't often hear about. This trend continued while I was listening to Empire City. I found that theories about policing that I thought were existential, like the origin of their existence, were actually literal. I found myself constantly being surprised by information about the history of NYPD and because of that I can't stop listening or recommending this show.

Ronald Young Jr. (he/him)

Don’t Drink the Milk is an English language show from Germany that explores the curious history of things. Their episode on homeopathy is extremely well done and will help you understand how we got to this place where homeopathic medicine is borderline mainstream and can be found in pharmacies. In case you didn’t know, homeopathy is utter bunk (quite literally a placebo at best) and if that sentence makes you feel a little defensive, I invite you to check this episode out! It’s balanced and well researched and an excellent example of compelling non-fiction podcasting.

Erik Jones (he/him)

Hurt Your Brain

I started this year barely able to differentiate between an oak and maple tree. If someone had said, "that's an oak tree," it would have logged somewhere in my mind, then gone back to being a mysterious giant of the forest. Completely Arbortrary has changed that, thanks to hosts Casey (a tree advocate) and his friend Alex (a singer-songwriter). Each episode, they talk about a different tree, helping listeners—aka "Fungal Associates"—learn new things in an accessible way. This show is like if a tree ID book came over for dinner and started telling you about all its characters; with stories, wit, and palpable curiosity about the big green things that help power life on earth.

Miriam Ward (she/her)

Bumper

First of all, I love a podcast with a mission, and Because the Boss Belongs to Us has an unexpected and beautiful one. Over the course of seven episodes, Jesse Lawson and Holly Casio are setting out to prove that Bruce Springsteen should be recognized as a queer icon. Holly is a zine artist and the podcast actually feels like a zine. Listening I feel like I'm sitting on the floor with Jesse and Holly at a slumber party. But they have their professor pants on. The episodes are structured—each tackles one facet of Jesse and Holly's argument. Episode one is important, it sets out the mission of the show. Episodes two through seven are lectures on whether or not Bruce is camp, an underdog, relatable, whether or not you can cry, dance, and fuck to Bruce's music, and whether or not the queer community is even buying this argument. That's all before the final verdict. I won't spoil it for you, listen to the whole thing. I don't think I've accurately been able to describe how light and feathery this podcast is. I don't mean it's not substantial, this literally could be a university course about culture and queerness. I mean that it makes you feel like you've been whisked away into a poem. I remember it not as something I listened to, but as almost a physical experience.

Lauren Passell (she/her)

Tink Media

Alpha 8 is a super fun, family-friendly sci-fi audio drama that feels like E.T. meets The Princess Diaries, with a little Freaky Friday twist. It follows an alien who swaps places with a struggling mom to figure out what family really means, all to save her own kind from extinction. The series does a great job blending humor and adventure with some real insights into the challenges of being a working mom. The voice acting is on point, and the story keeps you hooked with lovable characters and awesome sound design. It's a feel-good listen for anyone who loves sci-fi with heart.

Russ More (he/him)

The Fable and Folly Network