Bonjour.
I’m headed to The Podcast Show in London today (will be on stage presenting Almost 100 Podcast Marketing Tips (Again!)…if you’re there come say hi!) so in lieu of a regular issue I’m highlighting the official selections of the 2026 Tribeca Podcast Festival, 16 podcasts that I am verrrrry excited about, and I think you should be, too. This stuff has been painstakingly selected and it’s never been heard before. Looking at this list is evocative of the Macy’s catalogue arriving in the mail before Christmas, except instead of having to circle the things you think your parents will get you, you’ll be able to listen to all of them. For parties and updates, get yourself a ticket to a show!
NOTES:
Aside from the official selections, there are tons of live events (Marc Maron with Kara Swisher, Fashion Neurosis!)…check them out at tribecafilm.com/audio.
Aside from the official selections and the tons of live events, there’s a show cast list, a curated selection honoring the exceptional independent podcasts from the past year. They are super exciting and worth checking out if you haven’t already.
2026 OFFICIAL SELECTIONS
➡️tribecafilm.com/audio
Bodies on the Line
World Premiere. Through extensive interviews and field recordings at abortion clinics, Jeffrey Nils Gardner dives into how working as a clinic escort has helped individuals understand their gender, body, and relation to others. Creator: Jeffrey Nils Gardner
For the Sake of the Children
World Premiere. For the Sake of the Children is an audio series following Justin Lucas’ journey in rallying his small, tightknit town of Moriah to stand up to their ancient foreboding gods – alien beings known as the Architects that are thought to be humanity’s creators. After centuries away, the Architects have returned to our planet and sequestered themselves behind an enormous, mysterious Wall. They demand a child from Moriah be given to them once per year, a child the town never sees again. Creator: Joe Sill
My Brother David
World Premiere. After being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, David – a 48 year old husband and father living in Toronto, who has never listened to a podcast – decides to make a podcast together with his little sister Sarah, an avid podcast listener, grief worker and artist living in Chicago. And so begins Sarah and David’s sometimes hilarious, often irreverent and totally unflinching journey to follow the ups and downs of David’s disease. How long does David have left? Will the Blue Jays ever win the World Series? Is that gas or diarrhea? What does life look like when you know you’re going to die? Creator: Sarah Illiatovitch-Goldman
Parasites & Power
World Premiere. Parasites & Power is a six-part podcast series of interwoven stories about the colonial origins of today’s global public health system. Through archival research and dozens of interviews, the series reconstructs largely forgotten stories from medical history that tell us a lot about today, and can help us imagine better futures for global health. Creators: Jessie Graham, Rekha Murthy, Bart Warshaw
The Double[s]
World Premiere. At a Goop-like wellness empire built on female empowerment, Alice meets her doppelganger — a shinier, breezier British import who promptly steals her promotion. Desperate for answers, Alice joins a secret support group of people whose doubles are systematically dismantling their lives...then the doubles start turning up dead. Creators: Winnie Kemp, Alexander Kemp
The Fastest Girl in Somalia
World Premiere. In 2008, 17-year-old Somali runner Samia Yusuf Omar stepped onto the Olympic track in Beijing wearing donated shoes, long black leggings, and an oversized white t-shirt. She finished last in her heat, but ran with such determination that she drew the loudest cheer of the race. That moment defined her life – but the world she returned to was collapsing. This narrative series tells Samia’s extraordinary story of resilience, ambition, and the perilous intersection of sport, war, and migration. Reported and narrated by journalist Teresa Krug, who knew Samia personally, the series blends first-hand accounts, archival Olympic audio, and original reporting to uncover both the promise and the costs of chasing the Olympic dream. Creator: Teresa Krug
Scene on Radio: The News
World Premiere. In this eight part documentary series, co-hosts John Biewen and Chenjerai Kumanyika explore the roots of today’s ongoing media crisis – the splintering of news audiences, the widespread perception of bias, and the deluge of misinformation – by delving through stories from the past and the present. They ask what’s *really* wrong with the media. Is it what we think it is? Creators: John Biewen, Chenjerai Kumanyika, Diane Hodson
Stunt Queen
World Premiere. Stunt Queen follows the life of Dee Farmer, one of the most brilliant legal minds of our time who has spent most of her life incarcerated among men. Dee’s story is one of survival, sacrifice and determination as she continually advocated for herself despite being sentenced to 50 years by a judge. Facing a brutal system throughout her incarceration – compounded by her transgender identity and HIV-positive diagnosis – Dee taught herself the law from within the prison library, working to fight an unjust system for herself and others. Released in 2020 in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, Dee returns to Baltimore full of resolve, faith, and a newfound purpose. Creator: Alison Flowers
A History of the United States in 100 Objects
World Premiere. America’s 250th birthday calls for a history as sprawling and contradictory as the country itself. A History of the United States in 100 Objects tells that history one thing at a time. A gold coin from an 1857 shipwreck that triggered a financial panic. An antebellum schoolbook that became an instrument of Black liberation. Each week, an object opens the door into an extraordinary, often shocking story — about who we’ve been, what we’ve built, and what we’ve allowed ourselves to forget. The series brings together some of the most respected voices in narrative storytelling, including Radiolab co-creator Jad Abumrad and co-host Latif Nasser and Dan Taberski, investigative journalist and host of Hysterical and Missing Richard Simmons, with additional contributors to be announced. Creators: Roman Mars, Annie Brown and Courtney Harrell
Bone Valley Season 5: The Devil’s Quarry
World Premiere. Bone Valley Season 5: The Devil’s Quarry is hosted by award-winning investigative journalist and longtime contributing editor at Rolling Stone, Paul Solotaroff. For Paul, the devil had always been a myth, until now. In the woods outside Carmel, New York, a hunter finds the bones of a twelve-year-old girl, and the unraveling begins. She had been missing, forgotten even. Now, buried records, ignored warnings, and a justice system that may have gotten it dangerously wrong are forced into the open, while the real killer bides his time, counting the days until he can hunt again. Which raises the most haunting question of all: Who is the devil among us? Creators: Jeff Kempler, Jason Flom, Kevin Wortis
Cultivate Being
World Premiere. Death is one of the core mysteries of life, a part of life that affects us all - yet just about all of us try to avoid it. When host Amelia Chiarenza was in her early forties, a giant wave of loss crashed over her: both of her parents and a close friend died in the span of 16 months. Grief consumed her, forcing her to acknowledge death, to try to understand and embrace it in order to cope and thrive. Cultivate Being is a record of that quest. Creators: Amelia Chiarenza, Theo Balcomb
Personally: Discount Dave (and the Fix)
World Premiere. Everyone has a party story. Host and creator Becca Auerbach’s involved a run in with rock icon David Lee Roth. At least, that’s who he said he was. And maybe it’s because she loves rock and roll, or maybe it’s because she’s trying to fill a hole, but she holds onto that night. And it ultimately leads to her own reckoning. A harrowing and hilarious blend of memoir and auto-fiction, Discount Dave (and The Fix) is the true-ish story of a fake rockstar, a real trial and what it means to stop running, face yourself and fight to heal. Creator: Rebecca Auerbach
Reaching Out
World Premiere. On the eve of their 30th birthday, twin brothers Sayre and Connor are searching for their biological father while also trying to figure out their lives. Soon the brothers discover that their birth father is closer than they ever could have imagined. The journey to meet the man who left before they were born forces both brothers to confront parts of themselves they have hidden from themselves and each other. Reaching Out is a story about fathers, sons, and the distance between them. Creator: Sayre Quevedo
The Corridor
World Premiere. The Corridor examines how Louisiana became a center of industry and an epicenter of disease, with some communities facing cancer risks among the highest in the nation. Across seven episodes, The Corridor explores how residents have pushed back against the destruction of their past, the construction of more plants, the lax enforcement of environmental regulations, and further harm to people’s health as they seek to claim their right to a prosperous and healthy future. Creators: Jaha Avery, Erika Janik, Sam Moore
The Dolos Project
World Premiere. From their small space station, co-pilots David and Sarah have witnessed the nuclear annihilation of all life on earth. Now they, and their AI station companion SAI may be all that remains of humanity. But as David and Sarah attempt to search for survivors, they discover that all may not be as it appears. This is The Dolos Project, an intimate psychological sci-fi thriller podcast that explores how we grapple with immeasurable loss, how we cling to shreds of hope when none appear to remain, and how advances in AI may not be the societal upgrade we’re being sold. Creators: Megan Bagala
The Most Wanted Olympian
World Premiere. How did a small town Canadian boy allegedly become a narco kingpin? Ryan Wedding was once a promising young athlete, a snowboarder who went all the way to the Olympics. Now captured after a decade on the run, he’s accused of running a deadly international drug trafficking empire. In this new podcast from CBC and the Toronto Star, featuring new on-the-ground reporting and original interviews, host Michelle Shephard and reporter Calvi Leon investigate the Canadian who the FBI called a “modern day El Chapo” and ask: what will it take to bring him to justice? Creator: Michelle Shephard