It’s not often this show features stone-cold, bad ass editors. But that’s what we bring you today. I’m sure Leah Flickinger (@LeahFlickinger) will recoil at the remark, but it’s true.
She has edited pieces that made their way to Best American Sports Writing, won the National Magazine Award, and, oh, by the way, the Pulitzer Prize.
Yeah, that thing.
That was “Twelve Minutes and a Life” by Mitchell S. Jackson about the life and murder of Ahmaud Arbery. Leah edited Kim H. Cross’s incredible story “Leon + Noel” with the now-famous palindrome structure. (Don’t try this at home, kids).
So Leah is here to talk about how she developed these pieces and how she frames conversations with writers to get the most out of them and the pieces they’re working on.
Leah is unique in that she never really wanted to be a writer. She liked working with things that were developing where it was a matter of rewriting and restructuring from what was already made.
Writers and editors alike, you’re gonna love this one!
The show’s Instagram handle, @creativenonfictionpodcast, and you can always keep the conversation going on Twitter @CNFPod.
And you know I’d rather you sign up for my Up-to-11 Newsletter. Here’s the latest. Signup form is below you and to your right. Book recs, book raffles, cool stuff curated by me for you, CNFin’ happy hour or writing group, writing prompts, fun and entertaining. First of the month. No spam. Can’t beat it.
Consider supporting the show via Patreon patreon.com/cnfpod. Shop around if you want to support the community. I just paid out the writers from the last audio magazine. You make that possible. The show is free but it ain’t cheap.
Free ways to support the show?
Subscribe and download and share across your socials. And don’t forget to consider leaving a kind review on Apple Podcasts. Those go a LONG way.
Here’s our latest:
Great podcast, great guests, great host
One of my favorite podcasts out there. Even though the theme is creative non-fiction for each episode, each episode touches on different topics giving the podcast a ton of range. Brendan does a great job of finding interesting guests and then getting the most out of them. If you are a writer you can enjoy it from that perspective but even if you aren’t, there are lots of other different perspectives you can enjoy it from. Truly something for everybody!
