Best Podcasts of the Week: Tennis Star Venus Williams Hosts Show About Art | Podcasts

Picks of the week

Widening the Lens: Photography, Ecology, and the Contemporary Landscape
Widely available, all episodes available now
Tennis champion, art patron, and now podcaster Venus Williams hosts this thoughtful series from Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Museum of Art. Look at the photos on your phone, she asks in the opening. Go ahead, scroll through. Then she talks to experts about the relationship between photography and the environment, and how artists are remaking the world around us. Hollie Richardson

Harry and Paul are cunning
Widely available, weekly episodes
What this podcast from The Traitors Harry and Paul lacks in accurate facts, it makes up for in infectious energy. They discuss some of the biggest failed crimes in history, rambling wildly, laughing at each other’s jokes, and explaining exactly how they allegedly committed the crimes. Week one is the Millennium Dome diamond heist. Alexis Duggins

To bury
Widely available, weekly episodes
The second season of this shocking eco-pod is nothing short of astonishing. Actor Michael Sheen claims that chemicals are constantly leaking from former landfills, and he’s right. What follows is a wild, terrifying investigation that finds seals so full of toxins they rot alive, supermarket fish full of toxins, and more scandals than we can count. Must-listen. ADVERTISEMENT

Sonic fields
Widely available, weekly episodes
When Sam Tyler found a box of photos of his parents at festivals, along with his own teenage adventures, he decided to make a podcast about it. The result is a beautiful, cross-generational party, with guests including his mother, who perfectly master the familiar experience of going overboard on the first night. Hanna Verdier

Alison Moyet 40 Moyet moments
Widely available, episodes twice a week
This good fortune was not meant to be for Alf, says the amiable and charismatic Alison Moyet as she looks back on her 40-year career with Steve Coats-Dennis. She sounds like a woman finally having her say, with anecdotes about record company trauma and her huge success. high

There's a podcast for that

This week, Charlie Lindlar chooses five of the best podcasts on the single lifefrom a guide to thriving as a single parent to the thrill of solo travel

A single serving
We simply don’t deserve to be miserable or ashamed of our singleness, says former Refinery29 journalist Shani Silver on her podcast about finding solace in singlehood. Silver doesn’t shy away from talking about relationships, how to find one (if that’s what you’re looking for), and the difficulties of dating, including an excellent episode with fellow journalist Nancy Jo Sales about the corporate takeover of dating and how an entire industry has conspired to make us feel inadequate on our own. Silver’s show went behind a paywall in 2022, but whether you subscribe or just tune into her archive, her lessons are universal and timeless.

The Widow Podcast
Losing a loved one is a unique form of singleness, but it deserves its own space for stigma-free discussion. In this podcast, widows’ coach Karen Sutton offers affirmations and advice for making the best of things after the worst has happened. She fearlessly confronts the impact of grief on the body, how Covid has brought a new form of loss to millions, and much more, never wavering from her belief that we should embrace our grief and accept it as a fact of life, rather than denying its impact on our well-being.

The podcast for single mothers
Heather Wells, a single parent of three, knows that raising a family alone is a lot. In this podcast, she shares advice and support with a touch of humor to help navigate solo and co-parenting. Crucially, Wells not only addresses how to care for your kids, but also all the things that can be harder as a single parent: succeeding at work, maintaining friendships, and finding time for hobbies and sports. Wells also refuses to shy away from current affairs, breaking down Roe v Wade and the controversial Texas heartbeat law and sharply explaining what they mean for parental rights.

Solo
Behavioral scientist Peter McGraw is on a mission to destigmatize single life in all its forms. In his long-running podcast, McGraw philosophizes about almost everything you can do alone, but expands to take on complex issues like familial alienation, ethical non-monogamy, and how to build families that exist outside of conventional core structures. More of a cerebral show about the meaning of our connections to others than a podcast of practical advice, Solo has a lot of wisdom to offer those who commit to listening.

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A Guide for Girls Traveling Solo
One of the lesser-spoken aspects of single life, Gemma Thompson and guests tackle the joys and trials of solo globetrotting in this hands-on podcast. Single life experts like Alonement author Francesca Specter and photographer Suchitra Vijayan (who spent seven years traveling solo to document the frontiers of India) weigh in with motivational stories about going for it and making your dreams come true. Standout episodes include chef Rachel Khoo on how to eat well alone, and writer Nanjala Nyabola on the care she takes as a black woman traveling alone. It’s an eye-opening conversation about privilege, caution, and refusing to be limited.

Why not try

• An in-depth dive into the (surprisingly widespread) world of people who feign their native ancestry Pretenders.

• crooked heads The killing of justice delves into dark happenings in Indian politics.

• From Sudan to Mexico, journalists share how they risk everything to report in Silence imposed.

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