What’s new to listen to
Ximena Smith rounds up the best of recent podcasts.
The Witch Trials of J K Rowling
Probably one of the most controversial podcasts of 2023 so far, this new audio documentary from The Free Press explores some of the contentions surrounding the famed British author J K Rowling. The show is hosted by Megan Phelps-Roper (a woman known for leaving the famously homophobic Westboro Baptist Church back in 2012) and features extensive interviews with Rowling. Over the course of seven episodes, the podcast covers a significant amount of ground, including Rowling’s modest beginnings, an abusive marriage, the Christian backlash against Harry Potter in the 1990s and the author’s near saint-like status that emerged as her books grew in popularity. But the central controversy – and perhaps the likely main reason for this podcast – is to do with Rowling’s views on transgender rights. As Rowling describes it, she dropped ‘‘a hand grenade into Twitter’’ with a series of tweets about sex and gender in 2020, and ever since has been denounced by many for her views. Although Phelps-Roper has said the series isn’t intended as a defence of Rowling, so far, it seems to have skewed in that direction. New episodes every Tuesday.
Bear Brook: A True Crime Story
Five years after Bear Brook’s critically acclaimed first season, New Hampshire Public Radio’s Jason Moon is back with a new true crime case on Jason Carroll, a man who is still serving a life sentence for the 1989 murder of Sharon Johnson. While Carroll confessed to the crime during the initial police investigation, he later recanted it, and has declared his innocence ever since. Moon is a careful narrator and seems acutely aware that whatever elements make it into an ‘‘official’’ version of a story – and what bits get left out – can have wideranging effects, so he is careful and painstaking with his journalistic precision. New episodes every Monday.
Dynamite Doug
This new podcast from Project Brazen opens by describing art dealer Douglas Latchford as having looted the entire cultural heritage of Cambodia and then, over six episodes, briskly outlines his less-than-stellar track record and how others (including a senior curator at the Metropolitan Museum in the 1960s) enabled his dodgy dealings. Hosted by Ellen Wong, its fast-paced, detailed nature commands your full attention, and those that give it will be duly rewarded. New episodes out for free every Wednesday, or listen to the full series by subscribing on Apple Podcasts.