Two podcasts you should listen to this week: 'In the Dark' and 'The New Yorker: Fiction'

Do you love podcasts, but don’t know how to find new shows? Are you new to podcasts, and don't know where to start?

Welcome to “Thanks for Listening” — a new column about the absolute best podcast episodes to listen to this week according to two producers at KUOW who make podcasts for a living. Every Monday, we'll both suggest a podcast that we really enjoy listening to and tell you why we like it.

You’ll hear about shows that span (and overlap) a variety of topics and genres: investigative journalism, fiction, food, feminism, comedy, history, true crime, mental health, Harry Potter, and much more.

So kick back and enjoy this week's picks.

Caroline’s Pick: In the Dark

Suggested Episode: S2 E14: "The Decision"

Length: 16 minutes

Listen while: On a short walk

Brainpower required: 3/5

Family friendly? Yes

Last Friday, a very big development took place in the Curtis Flowers case, which was the subject of season two of In the Dark, an investigative podcast from APM reports. If you haven’t listened to the second of the podcast yet, now would be a very good time to start given that the circumstances of this case are playing out in real time.

This most recent episode is a short and emotional reaction piece to Friday’s Supreme Court decision overturning Flowers’s conviction for the sixth time. Yes, you read that correctly. Sixth. The Supreme Court ruled that the prosecution was in violation of the constitution for striking black people from the jury. The podcast team spoke with Curtis Flowers’s father, the District Attorney Doug Evans and others who had emotional investment in the case.

In the Dark is an exquisite work of journalism. Keep up with the case as they continue to roll out new episodes.

Clare’s Pick: The New Yorker: Fiction

Suggested Episode: A.M. Homes Reads Margaret Atwood

Length: 1 hour 10 minutes

Listen while: On a road trip

Brainpower required: 2/5

Family Friendly? Not this episode – but some are

A while ago, a friend of mine asked for podcast recommendations for his road trip to Yellowstone. The first name on my tongue was this podcast. It’s become a tradition for my partner and I to download a bunch of episodes and listen to them on long drives out to camping sites or to visit his sister in Ashland (and that’s one hell of a drive from Seattle).

The format of every show is the same: New Yorker Fiction editor Deborah Treisman invites an author to pick a story that the New Yorker has published that they really like. They have a conversation about the story and read it in full.

This episode is about “Stone Mattress” by one of my favorite authors, Margaret Atwood. Listening to it feels like all the best parts of a book club, without having to do any work – or like I’m eavesdropping in a NYC salon filled with literary die-hards.

The story itself is an ageless examination of femininity and what women do to survive, the kind of thing Atwood excels at unpeeling. This podcast always leaves me feeling like I’ve just stumbled on a surprisingly beautiful vista that I’ve never seen before.