156 Emotional Narrative Non-Fiction Storytelling Podcasts That You’ll Love
For those who had been mind-blown by shows like This American Life, Serial, 99% Invisible, Reply All and Radiolab — and desperately needs more.
Show name (my poor attempt at giving a 1–3 words surface-level theme, 🌏) recommended episode
Full disclosure: I’m a producer for a show in the list myself (East Asian Story). Well, if my podcast is not worth recommending then what am I doing with life being a producer… 😑
⚠️ Note: I no longer update this list with new discoveries as of 09/21, although I still do for the companion playlist on Spotify. Sorry! ⚠️
New To Narrative Non-Fiction?
Start with these classics:
Serial (justice, 🇺🇸) S01 Episode 01: The Alibi
This American Life (human-interest, 🇺🇸) 129 Cars
Radiolab (big questions, 🇺🇸) Colors
Reply All (internet culture, 🇺🇸) #102 Long Distance
99% Invisible (design, 🇺🇸) 202- Mojave Phone Booth
Personal Favourites
For more quick start episodes, these are ones that stuck with me:
Heavyweight (closure, 🇨🇦🇺🇸) #12 Jesse
The Hopeful (refugee journey, 🇨🇦) Heirloom
Snap Judgment (drama, 🇺🇸) This Is Not A Drill
Love and Radio (intriguing characters, 🇺🇸) A Girl of Ivory
Twenty Thousand Hertz (sound, 🇺🇸) The Booj
Hooked And Looking For The Full List?
Like millions other, you’ve probably shared that mind-blown moment the first time you were ‘baptised’ into this genre of sound-rich narrative non-fiction shows, such as the examples above. And now, after that awakening, you’re left hungry for more.
(But if you haven’t, you’re in for a treat! Start with the ones above.)
The problem is, to my limited knowledge, I couldn’t find any curated list for them. A guide to the best shows, episodes and hidden gems that can introduce me to this wonderful world that I discovered. One that would have saved me years of searching, through sheer trial and error.
Tired of waiting any longer, I’m taking this matter into my own hands. Here are more lovingly crafted audio documentary podcasts from around the world that you might also enjoy.
Many that made me laughed, cried, and even parked my car to finish.
And with that, let us begin, sorted according to Apple Podcast’s primary categories.
We believe in quality over quantity. These pieces take WEEKS of care to craft and maintain. Subscribing and SHARING keeps us pumped and helps us in a long way! 🙇🏻♀️❤️🙇🏻♂️
By Show Genre
ARTS 🙃 (17)
99% Invisible (design, 🇺🇸) 146- Mooallempalooza
Adventures in Coffee (coffee myths, 🇬🇧) Is reaaallly expensive coffee a rip off?
All The Best (life perspectives, 🇦🇺) #430 Long Distance
The Allusionist (language, 🇬🇧) 4. Detonating the C-Bomb
Broadway Backstory (musical, 🇺🇸) Episode 9: Hamilton Part 1
Constellation Prize (existential questions, 🇺🇸) 1. Crossing Guard
Eat Drink Asia (cuisine, 🇭🇰) History of pad Thai: how the stir-fried noodle dish was invented by the Thai government
Errthang Show! (memoir, 🇺🇸) Season 1, Episode 1: Big Brother Almighty
Imaginary Worlds (sci-fi & fantasy, 🇺🇸) Do You Speak Conlang?
Imaginary Advice (audio art, 🇬🇧) 1 Crying At The Back Of An Ed Byrne Show
The One Who Got Away (missed messages, 🇬🇧🇺🇸) #03 Microscopic Infinities
Paper Radio (audio journal, 🇦🇺) Transcenmentalism
Snap Judgment (drama, 🇺🇸) Easy Street
Spark & Fire: Epic Creative Stories (creative journey, 🇺🇸) Stay authentic to yourself: Randall Park on “Always Be My Maybe”
Studio 360 with Kurt Andersen (pop culture, 🇺🇸) My Parents' Extreme Tango Makeover
Twenty Thousand Hertz (sound, 🇺🇸) #94 | Pew Pew
Wireframe (design, 🇺🇸) Why we love to hate Comic Sans, and the return of fonts with personality.
BUSINESS 🤑 (10)
Brought to you by… (household names, 🇺🇸) 56. Pan Am in Vietnam
Business Wars (competition, 🇺🇸) Netflix vs Blockbuster — Sudden Death
How I Built This with Guy Raz (entrepreneurship, 🇺🇸) Lady Gaga & Atom Factory: Troy Carter
Masters of Scale with Reid Hoffman (management, 🇺🇸) 83. Tyra Banks: Personal brand power
Planet Money (economics, 🇺🇸) Hot Dog Hail Mary
Secret Sauce (success ingredient, 🇺🇸) The Secret Sauce of The NBA Bubble | Ingredient #1: Authenticity | 1
Spotify: A Product Story (product strategy, 🇸🇪) 00: The most epic battle in music history
StartUp (entrepreneurship, 🇺🇸) Gimlet 1: How Not to Pitch a Billionaire
This Is Uncomfortable (money troubles, 🇺🇸) Meet the scammer
WeCrashed: The Rise and Fall of WeWork (scandal, 🇺🇸) In the Beginning There Was Adam…
COMEDY 😂 (2)
Finding Drago / Finding Desperado (pop culture detectives, 🇦🇺) S1 01 | The First Thread
Personal Best (exaggerated quests, 🇨🇦) Cow Watch 2018
EDUCATION 😩 (1)
East Asian Story (growing up, 🇹🇭) Smacking down heaven
FICTION 😽 (3)
Fake Heiress (fraud, 🇬🇧) Ep 1. Fake Heiress
Have You Heard George’s Podcast? (reflections, 🇬🇧) 19. Common Ground
Imagined Life (biography, 🇺🇸) Encore: The Everyman
HEALTH & FITNESS 😳 (2)
Bodies (medical mysteries, 🇺🇸) Other than
The Heart (intimacy, 🇨🇦🇺🇸) No: Inheritance
HISTORY 🧐 (9)
American Scandal (scandal, 🇺🇸) The Hare Krishna Murders: Go West, Old Man
BADLANDS (crimes & scandals, 🇺🇸) Bruce Lee: Fists of Fury, the Death Touch, Murder Suspect #1, and Hollywood’s Ultimate Outsider
Cautionary Tales (past errors, 🇬🇧🇺🇸) That Turn to Pascagoula
How to Invent a Country (national formation, 🇬🇧) The Birth of Bangladesh
LORE (dark tales, 🇺🇸) Episode 15: Unboxed
the memory palace (re-living history, 🇺🇸) Distance
Stuff The British Stole (colonialism, 🇦🇺) Blood Art
Throughline (context, 🇺🇸) The Invention of Race
Uncivil (forgotten struggles, 🇺🇸) The Raid
GOVERNMENT 😢 (1)
Radiolab Presents: More Perfect (US supreme court, 🇺🇸) Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl
KIDS & FAMILY 👪 (3)
The Genius Generation (youth pioneers, 🇺🇸) Neil Suri
Mic Drop from CBC Podcasts (kid’s diary, 🇨🇦) EVANS: Who Am I?
Tai Asks Why (big questions, 🇨🇦) What is love?
MUSIC 🤗 (6)
Dolly Parton’s America (character study, 🇺🇸) I Will Always Leave You
The Listening Service (classical music, 🇬🇧) How to Compose Music
Lost Notes (1980s, 🇺🇸) Outlaws of the Airwaves: The Rise of Pirate Radio Station WBAD
Meet the Composer (composer’s mind, 🇺🇸) Anna Thorvaldsdottir: Composing Is Second Nature
Song Exploder (backstory, 🇺🇸) Sheryl Crow — Redemption Day (feat. Johnny Cash)
Switched on Pop (breakdown, 🇺🇸) One Direction: Our Modern Day Castrati
NEWS 😒 (13)
Code Switch (race, 🇺🇸) 17,000 Islands, 700 Languages, And A Superhero
The Daily (current affairs, 🇺🇸) The Year in Good News
Foundering (tech industry, 🇺🇸) TikTok: ‘I’ll Be Making Bank! Hopefully.’
How It Happened (Trump’s last stand, 🇺🇸) Part I: Where It Starts
The Journal (financial news, 🇺🇸) To The Moon, Part 1: 'How Much Do Islands Cost?'
The Missing Cryptoqueen (scam, 🇬🇧) Episode 1: Dr Ruja
Post Reports (news, 🇺🇸) The Life of George Floyd
Reveal (investigative journalism, 🇺🇸) Weapons with minds of their own
Rough Translation (beyond USA, 🇺🇸) American Surrogate
Serial (justice, 🇺🇸) S01 Episode 01: The Alibi
The Sunday Magazine (current affairs, 🇨🇦) Dead Mom Talking
Today, Explained (explanatory journalism, 🇺🇸) Let’s talk about terror (Part I)
Today in Focus (news, 🇬🇧) The Post Office scandal – part 1
RELIGION & SPIRITUALITY 🤐 (1)
Israel Story (human-interest, 🇮🇱) 2: Love Syndrome
SCIENCE 🤯 (8)
Guardians of the River (Okavango Delta, 🇺🇸🇦🇴) Power to Protect
Hidden Brain (human behaviour, 🇺🇸) Lonely Hearts
How To Do Everything (life guide, 🇺🇸) Episode 190: Milk & Asparagus
Invisibilia (human behaviour, 🇺🇸) The Secret History of Thoughts
Outside/In (outdoors, 🇺🇸) Always. Wear. Earth. Tones.
Science VS (pseudoscience buster, 🇦🇺🇺🇸) A Seedy, Late-Night Adventure
Short Wave (behind the headlines, 🇺🇸) 'Where We Come From': Emily Kwong's Story
Unexplainable (scientific mysteries, 🇺🇸) No one nose
SOCIETY & CULTURE 😍 (66)
The Anthropocene Reviewed (artefacts, 🇺🇸) Googling Strangers and Kentucky Bluegrass
The Atlas Obscura (incredible places, 🇺🇸) Booming Dunes
BBC Earth Podcast (nature, 🇬🇧) The music that makes camels cry
Between The Ears (sound art, 🇬🇧) Jump Blue
The Butterfly Effect / The Last Days of August (porn digital disruption, 🇬🇧🇺🇸) Ep. 1: A Nondescript Building in Montreal
California Love (identity & belonging, 🇺🇸) Ellie
Canary: The Washington Post Investigates (sexual assault, 🇺🇸) Chapter 1: "The system failed us"
City of Women (reclaiming space, 🇮🇳) Dicks
The Cut (cultural trends, 🇺🇸) Emily Ratajkowski Wants Her Pictures Back
Death, Sex & Money (hard questions, 🇺🇸) I Was Your Father, Until I Wasn't
Decoder Ring (pop culture origins, 🇺🇸) Baby Shark
Dirty John (hidden predator, 🇺🇸) The Real Thing | 1
Ear Hustle (prison life, 🇺🇸) Episode 6: The Boom Boom Room
Earshot (human-interest, 🇦🇺) Four parents two gaybies: part 1
Even The Rich (the rich’s drama, 🇺🇸) S16 E1 | The Making of Madonna | Blonde Ambition
The Experiment (improving USA, 🇺🇸) The Crime of Refusing Vaccination
Great Big Story (delightful & untold, 🇺🇸) Where Have I Seen That Guy?
Gushi FM (故事 FM) (human-interest, 🇨🇳) When We Talk About Love
[the translated version with Rough Translation; original version in Chinese; and if you understand Chinese — E081.我去朝鲜上大学:向着白头山,出发!]Here Be Monster (the unknown, 🇺🇸) HBM034: The Grandmother and The Vine Of The Dead
Home. Made. (home story, 🇺🇸) My Roommate, The Ghost
The Hopeful (refugee journey, 🇨🇦) Heirloom
How to Save a Planet (climate solutions, 🇺🇸) How 2020 Became a Climate Election
I'll Never be Alone Anymore (community, 🌍) The Story of the Skala Eresos Lesbian Community
Kerning Cultures (human-interest, 🇦🇪) Lebanon, USA 2.0
Kismet (fated relationship, 🇺🇸) Ep 17. LS FIX
Love and Radio (intriguing characters, 🇺🇸) The Living Room
Love Me (relationship, 🇨🇦) In The Distance
Lucky Podcast (the unexpected, 🇺🇸) 1. The Cello
Heavyweight (closure, 🇨🇦🇺🇸) #32 Vivian
Making (biography, 🇺🇸) Obama 1: The Man In The Background
Meditative Story (mindfulness, 🇬🇧🇺🇸) Lang Lang: The teacher who asked a new question
Millennial (coming-of-age, 🇺🇸) #18 Nothin’ But Net
Modern Love (love, 🇺🇸) To Fall In Love With Anyone, Do This | With Gillian Jacobs
MONSTER (personal demon, 🇺🇸🇱🇻) Act 1
My Year in Mensa (infiltration experience, 🇺🇸) Episode 1: IQ and the Average Girl
Mystery Show (solving mysteries, 🇺🇸) Case #3 Belt Buckle
Nancy (LGBTQ experiences, 🇺🇸) Return to Ring of Keys
Nice White Parents (school segregation, 🇺🇸) 1: The Book of Statuses
Nocturne (the unseen, 🇺🇸) Forward Momentum
The Nod (Black life, 🇺🇸) Saving Grace
Overheard at National Geographic (explorers, 🇺🇸) Searching for the Himalaya’s Ghost Cats
Radiolab (big questions, 🇺🇸) Space
Radio Ambulante (human-interest, 🇵🇪🇺🇸) Los Frikis
[the translated version with Radiolab; original version in Spanish]Radio Diaries (self-portraits, 🇺🇸) 25 Years of Radio Diaries
Radio Rental (scary stories, 🇺🇸) Episode 04 (Laura of the Woods)
Resistance (Black Lives Movement, 🇺🇸) Shake The Room
Revisionist History (overlooked & misunderstood, 🇨🇦🇺🇸) Carlos Doesn’t Remember
S-Town (intriguing personality, 🇺🇸) Chapter I
Short Cuts (reflection, 🇬🇧) Self-Portrait
Showcase from Radiotopia (experimental series, 🇺🇸) Secrets #1 - Discover a Secret
Sincerely, X (anonymous TED talks, 🇺🇸) Episode 6: Rescued by Ritual
The Specialist (obscure careers, 🇺🇸) Specialette — Undercover in the Bread Factory
State of the Re:Union (communities, 🇺🇸) Pike County, OH: As Black as We Wish to Be
Stories From The Eastern West (human-interest, 🇵🇱) NAM
StoryCorps (humanity moments, 🇺🇸) A Reason To Smile
Strangers (empathy, 🇩🇰🇺🇸) The Truth
SUPERHUMANS (healing stories, 🇺🇸) 01 "Need Help. Kindness Appreciated." [Mark's Story]
Tell Them, I Am (Muslim lives, 🇺🇸) Akbar
This American Life (human-interest, 🇺🇸) How I Got Into College
This Is Love (varieties of love, 🇺🇸) Episode 2: Something Large and Wild
This Game Changed My Life (game story, 🇬🇧) Alexander: King of Spies
Underunderstood (resolving mysteries, 🇺🇸) Recorded for Awesomeness
Under the Influence with Terry O’Reilly (advertising, 🇨🇦) S2E04 (Archive) Radio Is Dead: Long Live Radio
UnErased: The History of Conversion Therapy in America (LGBTQ oppresion, 🇺🇸) 2. Mama Bears to the Rescue
VENT Documentaries (self-portraits, 🇬🇧) #3 Why Does Everyone Call Me Carlos?
Welcome to LA (inhabitants portrait, 🇺🇸) Grace of the Sea
TECHNOLOGY 🖖 (5)
30 Animals That Made Us Smarter (biomimicry, 🇬🇧) Tardigrade and vaccine transport
Darknet Diaries (cyber crimes, 🇺🇸) Ep 36: Jeremy from Marketing
Endless Thread (forum stories, 🇺🇸) Something Wicked
Rabbit Hole (echo chambers, 🇺🇸) START HERE
Reply All (internet culture, 🇺🇸) #158 The Case of the Missing Hit
TRUE CRIME 🤡 (4)
The Apology Line (crime confession experiment, 🇺🇸) Who's Sorry Now?
Criminal (criminality, 🇺🇸) He’s Still Neutral
Hunting Warhead (child abuse, 🇨🇦🇳🇴) Episode 1: Hacker vs. Hacker
The Line (Navy SEAL, 🇺🇸) We Have a Problem
TV & FILM 😎 (2)
Blockbuster (directors’ biography, 🇺🇸) Episode 1: The Dropout
Finding Fred (biography, 🇺🇸) A Genius of Empathy
SPORTS 😲 (2)
30 For 30 (drama, 🇺🇸) BIKRAM Part 1: Arrival
Sports Wars (rivalry, 🇺🇸) Kobe vs. Shaq Revisited — It’s Showtime | 1
UNCLASSIFIED 😁 (1)
Kathy Tu (🇺🇸) The Fighter Pilot
Note:
1. I selected only one episode per show that is either my personal favourite or if it’s a series, then the first episode. It was heartbreakingly difficult though.
2. I have a simple taste, and am no authority. If I find an episode engaging and connected with it emotionally, I recommend. This is neither an objective nor comprehensive list.
3. Full disclosure, I’m a producer for a show in the list myself (East Asian Story). In fact, I love this form so much that I quit my stable job in tech to become an audio producer (still learning though).
4. All episodes recommended are in English, although there are also many great non-English audio documentaries out there like Radio Atlas.
Thanks for reading, I hope you come to enjoy what I love so much. 🙏
And maybe afterwards like me, you’ll find it impossible to listen to the typical two-dudes-on-a-couch-rambling style shows anymore — unless it’s insanely good.
We believe in quality over quantity. These pieces take WEEKS of care to craft and maintain. Subscribing and SHARING keeps us pumped and helps us in a long way! 🙇🏻♀️❤️🙇🏻♂️