Best Cri German Podcasts (2024)

1
Is this the end of Georgia's European dream? 50:02

19m ago50:02

50:02

Georgia's pro-Russian ruling party claims to have won last weekend's election — a fraudulent election, according to a mounting pile of evidence. A country that was once on the path to EU membership is now veering much closer to the Kremlin. Is there any hope left? We ring Anna Gvarishvili, Tbilisi-based journalist and head of the Investigative Medi…

1
Anna Rasche leaves no stone unturned. 23:20

18h ago23:20

23:20

Author Anna Rasche visits our headquarters for this week’s episode of VBT to discuss her new book, The Stone Witch of Florence. She covers writing about the Black Plague during a modern day-pandemic, the importance of wellness girlies, and why she loves crystals. After nearly a decade in exile for witchcraft, Ginevra di Gasparo is called upon to us…

1
Naughty, naughty Switzerland 53:52

6d ago53:52

53:52

Wine fraud, migration policy and climate litigation: there's something for everyone this week. Back in April, Switzerland's government lost a groundbreaking European court case and was ordered to rewrite its climate policy. Has it actually done that? No, no it has not. We speak to Geneva-based climate lawyer Seb Duyck about whether Switzerland can …

1
Russia's mysterious sabotage campaign 45:56

13d ago45:56

45:56

Arson, vandalism, attacks on NATO vehicles: around Europe, mysterious acts of sabotage have been multiplying. And there's a pattern: the perpetrators were recruited on Telegram via accounts linked to Russian agencies. This week, we hear from Marta Vunš about how she and other journalists went undercover to figure out how this recruitment actually w…

1
Ann Liang on milking her JSTOR access. 24:16

22d ago24:16

24:16

The best way to listen to Virtual Book Tour is in the Book of the Month app! Author Ann Liang joins us on this week’s episode of VBT to discuss her newest book, A Song to Drown Rivers. From making the most of her JSTOR access while it lasted, to thinking deeply about beauty standards across centuries, she breaks down how her historical fantasy nove…

1
Using grandma to make people cry about climate change 51:26

27d ago51:26

51:26

Why is it so hard to talk about climate change in a way that actually makes us... feel something? This week, our producer Katz Laszlo talks to an Icelandic writer who manages against the odds to do just that: Andri Snær Magnason, author of — among many other things — the hit memoir 'On Time And Water'. We're also talking about the German politician…

1
Coco Mellors wants you to cry in public. 33:23

1M ago33:23

33:23

1
What do the European Union and Barbie have in common? 47:22

1M ago47:22

47:22

Are European leaders living in a Barbie-like dreamworld? This week, the idealised fantasy of the EU versus its awkward reality. Far from being a continent of grateful europhiles, a lot of people feel apathetic about the European project at best. Paweł Zerka joins us to discuss why non-white, young and Eastern Europeans feel especially left out of t…

1
Laura Dave has a complicated relationship with thrillers. 20:42

1M ago20:42

20:42

The best way to listen to Virtual Book Tour is in the Book of the Month app! Repeat author Laura Dave joins us on this week’s episode of VBT to discuss her newest book, The Night We Lost Him. We talked about the question she wanted to answer with this story, how grief is an extension of love, and her complicated relationship with the thriller genre…

1
Mussolini, testicles, and the Schengen zone 41:00

1M ago41:00

41:00

Last week we brought you geopolitics, this week we're bringing you testicles. Why has male contraception remained such an underground idea, despite decades of research? We speak to Paul Labourie, one of a growing number of men (in the francophone world at least) who are turning to DIY contraception devices to take on more of the responsibility in t…

1
Swedish authorities say it's fine if you listen to this podcast 56:11

2M ago56:11

56:11

We're back from our summer break! Rym Momtaz, the new editor-in-chief of the Strategic Europe blog, is here to catch us up on the main political developments we missed over the summer, from Ukraine to France. We're also talking about Sweden's suggestions for cutting kids' screen time, and a possible crackdown on outrageous concert ticket prices. Th…

1
Chelsea Bieker is obsessed with grocery stores. 34:22

2M ago34:22

34:22

The best way to listen to Virtual Book Tour is in the Book of the Month app! Chelsea Bieker joins us on this week’s episode of Virtual Book Tour to discuss her new book, Madwoman. We talked about her somatic practice around writing (shaking your sillies out) and our (mostly her) obsession with wellness. Clove has gone to extremes to keep her past a…

1
This Is What A Generation Sounds Like: Kinga 32:24

3M ago32:24

32:24

This week, we're re-releasing another of our all-time favourite episodes to entertain your ears during our summer break. First aired in 2022, it's a story from our long-running series, 'This Is What A Generation Sounds Like', and it takes us to Georgia. Thanks for listening! We'll be back in September. If you enjoy our podcast, we'd love it if you'…

1
This Is What A Generation Sounds Like: Sara 27:12

3M ago27:12

27:12

We're away on our summer break until September, but this week and next week we're re-releasing two of our favourite episodes from The Europeans' award-winning series, 'This Is What A Generation Sounds Like. This week, a story that spans three generations of women: Sara, her mother, and her grandmother. In their collective lifetimes, Albania entered…

1
Kimberly McCreight on the intensity of mother-daughter relationships 28:17

3M ago28:17

28:17

The best way to listen to Virtual Book Tour is in the Book of the Month app! Repeat author Kimberly McCreight joins us on this week’s episode of VBT to discuss her newest book, Like Mother, Like Daughter. We spoke about how Kimberly’s former days as a lawyer helped inform this story and we also discussed the intense relationships between mothers an…

1
A Q&A with The Europeans 43:25

3M ago43:25

43:25

It’s our first ever Q&A episode! Katy, Dominic, Katz and Wojciech answer listeners’ questions – from how we make the show, to the episodes we’d make if we were gazillionaires. We’ve saved a couple of our answers for supporters of the podcast. If you’d like to hear them, we’d love it if you could send a few bucks our way at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/…

1
Liz Moore was not a happy camper. 29:44

3M ago29:44

29:44

The best way to listen to Virtual Book Tour is in the Book of the Month app! Repeat author Liz Moore joins us on this week’s episode of VBT to discuss her newest book, The God of the Woods. We talked about how her own family history with the Adirondacks inspired the setting for this novel, her own experience with camp as a kid, and the myth and rea…

1
'Luca' 39:18

4M ago39:18

39:18

One Hungarian family. One piece of land. Two very different visions. This is the final episode in our long-running series This Is What A Generation Sounds Like, made in cooperation with the Allianz Foundation. You can find the other episodes in the series here. Thanks, as ever, to the listeners who support this podcast so that we can keep making it…

1
What happens after France's surprise swing to the left? 54:01

4M ago54:01

54:01

A surprise left-wing election win? In Europe? In 2024? This week, we turn to our resident Parisian journalist to try to get our heads around what just happened in France, as well as what might happen next. We’re also looking at the other big left-wing winners of the week: the UK Labour Party. What might their new government mean for Britain’s relat…

1
Why is European cinema so different from Hollywood? 52:45

4M ago52:45

52:45

Fewer expensive car chases, more moody shots and ambiguous endings: movies made in Europe are often very different from those made in the US. But Europe's more arty film output isn't just a product of our culture — it has a lot to do with how the industry is financed. This week, we're asking: why is European cinema the way it is, and should we be t…

1
Sarah Pekkanen loves eavesdropping. 34:24

4M ago34:24

34:24

The best way to listen to Virtual Book Tour is in the Book of the Month app! Repeat author Sarah Pekkanen joins us on this week’s episode of VBT to discuss her newest book, House of Glass. We talked about the benefits of eavesdropping, how Sarah’s experience as an investigative reporter informs her work as a thriller novelist, and haunted mega mans…

1
Isabel Banta on what makes a perfect pop song. 25:45

4M ago25:45

25:45

The best way to listen to Virtual Book Tour is in the Book of the Month app! This week we spoke with Isabel Banta on what it means to be a child popstar. We discussed the price of celebrity, coming-of-age experiences, and how music lets us all connect. It is 1997, and Amber Young has received a life-changing call. It’s a chance thousands of girls w…

1
Pigeon murders, the nature restoration law, and Scandinavian family therapy 47:13

4M ago47:13

47:13

Enough politics: we’ve got a nature-themed episode for you this week. Producer Katz Laszlo joins Katy to explain how Austria’s environment minister went rogue to save the EU’s hugely important nature restoration law; we’re also talking about the German town that just voted to kill all its pigeons. And in the human world: the podcast that brings Sca…

1
Rufi Thorpe's persona is a Germanic washerwoman. 35:23

4M ago35:23

35:23

The best way to listen to Virtual Book Tour is in the Book of the Month app! We had so much fun getting to talk to Rufi Thorpe, the author of Margo's Got Money Troubles on this week's episode of VBT! We talked about the consequences of snap judgements, how OnlyFans has shifted over the past couple of years, and Rufi's love for wrestling. As the chi…

1
The most confusing elections of all time? 45:55

4M ago45:55

45:55

The far-right surged but the centre held; somehow the two are true at once. Nearly 100 members of the new European Parliament have yet to tell us which political family they’ll be joining. And as for who’s actually going to be running the EU’s institutions for the next five years – right now, it’s anyone’s guess. How can we make sense of these Euro…

1
Laura Hankin and the romance of friendships in your 20s. 30:21

5M ago30:21

30:21

The best way to listen to Virtual Book Tour is in the Book of the Month app! Live from the BOTM headquarters, Laura Hankin joins us to discuss her newest book, One-Star Romance. We had a lovely conversation about the romance of friendships in your 20s, why we shouldn't feel stuck in our timelines, and how Laura once got eviscerated by a teenager. N…

1
Brynne Weaver and the golden age of smut. 29:14

5M ago29:14

29:14

The best way to listen to Virtual Book Tour is in the Book of the Month app! Brynne Weaver joins us in the BOTM headquarters to discuss her newest book to The Ruinous Love trilogy, Leather & Lark. We asked Brynne why she was ruining all of our favorite foods and talked about how one woman's red flags might actually be another's green flag. Contract…

1
Why give a damn about the European elections? 36:04

5M ago36:04

36:04

They’re the second biggest elections on Earth. For the next four days, 373 million people are eligible to take part in the vote for the European Parliament. And yet in most EU countries, the prevailing mood is… ‘meh’. This week, we take on the challenge of convincing you that these elections are anything but meh, with the help of one of our favouri…

1
The Big-Agri Bully Boys 46:58

5M ago46:58

46:58

Protests by angry farmers have swept across Europe this year. But from country to country, powerful groups have taken these protests over and changed their agenda. Who are these people, and what are they up to? This is a special episode produced in collaboration with investigative journalists from Lighthouse Reports and media partners across Europe…

1
Mai Corland is afraid of birds. 27:05

5M ago27:05

27:05

The best way to listen to Virtual Book Tour is in the Book of the Month app! The author of Five Broken Blades joins us in the BOTM office for this week's episode! We talked to Mai Corland about her epic new book, Korean mythology and history, and the transition from writing for younger audiences to now writing for adults. It’s the season for treaso…

1
Kaliane Bradley has a crush from 1847. 31:01

6M ago31:01

31:01

The best way to listen to Virtual Book Tour is in the Book of the Month app! Kaliane Bradley, author of The Ministry of Time, joins us to celebrate her debut novel! We talked about how she fell in love with Graham Gore, what she would be "excited" to experience if she could go back to the Victorian Era, and her modern tech pet peeves. A government …

1
What's more endangered: wolves or Eurovision? 51:33

6M ago51:33

51:33

This week, the high drama of both European wolf policy and the Eurovision Song Contest. Wolves have made a huge comeback in Europe in recent years. How can we coexist peacefully with these hungry carnivores? We speak to the social scientist Hanna Pettersson about how humans are living alongside predators in Spain and Sweden. Plus, all the controver…

1
Rachel Khong on what it means to be a real American. 27:26

6M ago27:26

27:26

The best way to listen to Virtual Book Tour is in the Book of the Month app! On this week's episode, we sit down with Rachel Khong to discuss her new novel, Real Americans. We had so much fun asking the big questions like, “what do we inherit from our families and their histories,” and what it means to be a “real American.” Real Americans begins on…

1
Can food labels make us healthier? 45:35

6M ago45:35

45:35

Across a fair chunk of Europe, we've grown used to seeing little traffic light symbols on our food packets that supposedly rate the healthiness of our food. But why might Dominic's chamomile tea get a Nutri-Score rating of C, when a diet cola gets an A? And does Giorgia Meloni have a point in claiming that the ratings are biased against Italians? T…

1
Emiko Jean may be on a watch list… 24:38

6M ago24:38

24:38

The best way to listen to Virtual Book Tour is in the Book of the Month app! On this week's episode, we sit down with Emiko Jean, author of The Return of Ellie Black. We talk about how this book was originally written as a YA novel, her past as an entomologist and how it could inspire a future book, and why she may be on a government watch list... …

1
Makiia Lucier would never eat a seadragon egg. 21:23

6M ago21:23

21:23

The best way to listen to Virtual Book Tour is in the Book of the Month app! Makiia Lucier, author of Dragonfruit, joins us on this week’s episode of Virtual Book Tour! We learned that this beautiful fantasy novel was inspired by Makiia’s own memories of growing up on Guam and the historical elements that she used as inspiration for her story. Hana…

1
The regime that ended with a song 45:25

6M ago45:25

45:25

It’s the only revolution in world history (that we know of) that began with a Eurovision song. This week, Portugal marks 50 years since the Carnation Revolution ended decades of dictatorship. We speak to Alex Fernandes, author of a new accessible history of the revolution, about the day that changed everything. We’re also talking about the UK’s mis…

1
Yulin Kuang on what makes an office romance so hot. 29:55

6M ago29:55

29:55

The best way to listen to Virtual Book Tour is in the Book of the Month app! We had so much fun with Yulin Kuang, author of How to End a Love Story! We talked about her journey from screenwriter to author, what it's like to work in a writer's room, and what makes office romances so hot. Helen Zhang hasn’t seen Grant Shepard in the thirteen years si…

1
Why the Swiss women’s climate victory is such a big deal 44:14

7M ago44:14

44:14

A group of Swiss women, all aged 64 and over, made history last week by winning the first ever climate case heard by the European Court of Human Rights. But what does their victory mean for climate policy across Europe? We ring up international courts reporter Molly Quell to find out. We're also talking about an artistic sense-of-humour failure, a …

1
Simone Gorrindo on the unusual expectations of a military wife. 30:15

7M ago30:15

30:15

The best way to listen to Virtual Book Tour is in the Book of the Month app! Simone Gorrindo joins us on this week's episode of VBT to discuss her new memoir, The Wives. We talk about uprooting her life from Manhattan to rural Georgia, the unusual expectations of being a military wife, and how her view of friendship changed. The Wives tells the sto…

1
The biggest climate case that ever was 49:27

7M ago49:27

49:27

We are re-airing one of our all time favourite episodes following this week's landmark verdict on the biggest climate case that ever was: KlimaSeniorinnen vs. Switzerland. We reported on the case in depth last year, shortly after the hearing. And now, the court rules: KlimaSeniorinnen win!We usually see young people as the face of climate activism.…

1
Nepo great-great-great-grand-babies 45:41

7M ago45:41

45:41

We all know this continent has major issues with social mobility. But having a rich ancestor from *six centuries ago* shouldn't make it more likely that you're rich today... should it? This week we speak to Guglielmo Barone, one of the economists behind some fascinating research into this question in Florence. We're also talking about Ursula von de…

1
Holly Gramazio created every single person’s dream attic. 25:48

7M ago25:48

25:48

The best way to listen to Virtual Book Tour is in the Book of the Month app! On this week’s episode, we sit down with Holly Gramazio to discuss her debut novel, The Husbands. We talked about the choice fatigue that comes with online dating, her background in game design, and the importance of playing to feel at home When Lauren returns home to her …

1
Less Beyoncé, more bouzouki 43:38

7M ago43:38

43:38

This week, music and politics collide. We're talking about Greece's plan to enforce quotas for Greek-language lyrics on the radio, and the racist backlash against Aya Nakamura's rumoured booking for the Paris Olympics. Plus, a great interview with Politico's senior climate reporter Zia Weise about the EU's once-trumpeted nature restoration law. Can…

1
Ashton Lattimore on the fight for freedom in 1830s Philadelphia. 28:32

7M ago28:32

28:32

The best way to listen to Virtual Book Tour is in the Book of the Month app! On this week’s episode, we sit down with Ashton Lattimore to discuss her debut novel, All We Were Promised. We dove deep on the evolution of abolition in Philadelphia, how family ties bond us, and how her background as a lawyer and journalist finds its way into her writing…

1
Small Ex-Soviet Satellite State My Ass 43:23

7M ago43:23

43:23

This week, we're heading to a small country with a big bold foreign policy. Czechia, aka the Czech Republic, has won international praise by negotiating a desperately-needed ammunition deal for Ukraine. Why did it succeed where others have failed? And why is its government so much less scared of China than most others in Europe? We ring up Jakub Ja…

1
Steve Cavanagh’s hangover sent him to law school. 32:49

7M ago32:49

32:49

All the way from Ireland, Steve Cavanagh joins us in the BOTM office to discuss his new thriller, Kill For Me, Kill For You. We discussed where the idea of a murder swap originated, when to get your revenge, and how a hangover sent him to law school. One dark evening on NYC’s Upper West Side, two strangers meet by chance. Over drinks, they realize …

1
Amy Lin says grief is the final form of love. 41:05

8M ago41:05

41:05

Amy Lin joins us at the BOTM HQ to discuss her new memoir, Here After. This was such a beautiful and moving conversation about how her late husband inspires her to be brave every day, why grief is the final form of love, and the importance of community during loss. Amy Lin never expected to find a love like the one she shares with her husband. Here…

1
The Portuguese Constitution Is Delicious 44:33

8M ago44:33

44:33

Scandal-hit Socialists, a surging far-right, and winners that no one can get excited about — Portugal has just delivered some of this year's trickiest European election results. This week, we ring Politico reporter Aitor Hernández-Morales to untangle the situation. We're also talking about how ChatGPT could speed up Albania's EU membership bid, and…

1
Sierra Greer predicts robot girlfriends. 25:08

8M ago25:08

25:08

On this week’s episode, we sit down with Sierra Greer, author of Annie Bot! We had so much fun talking about the future of AI, the ways we never stop coming-of-age, and we play a rapid fire game of “Real or Fake AI.” Annie Bot was created to be the perfect girlfriend for her human owner. Designed to satisfy his emotional and physical needs, she has…

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Cri German Podcasts

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