By Brendan O’Meara
It’s that time of year…it’s HippoCamp Season! Over the Aug. 12-14 weekend, Donna Talarico and her cohort of devoted volunteers will host the seventh conference devoted solely to creative nonfiction writing.
Carmen Maria Machado will be the keynote speaker and there will be dozens of breakout sessions to choose from, be it Allison K. Williams, Jeannine Oullette, or Athena Dixon.
Continue reading “Episode 327: Donna Talarico”
By Brendan O’Meara
Jana Meisenholder is a freelance journalist based out of Los Angeles and she’s got a new piece out for The Atavist Magazine. It’s an incredible tale of drive and obsession.
Jana’s work has appeared in Rolling Stone, the Wall Street Journal, and, now The Atavist.
This episode was my COVID episode (still sparring with it, though I think the worst is behind me). Sometimes when I do these interviews you see threads dangling in the conversation and you have to make a choice which thread to pull. If I wasn’t so sick, I would’ve pulled on a couple, but I couldn’t. I simply … could … not. THAT SAID, this episode still came out great.
Jana’s piece follows Andres Beckett, a Mexican-American man hellbent on finding mentorship to lead him over the edge of the Suicide Race. It’s a trip, man.
We start off by talking to editor-in-chief Seyward Darby before we get into the skeleton, the meat, and the bones with Jana.
Continue reading “Episode 326: Jana Meisenholder”
By Brendan O’Meara
Are you a New Jersey hater? We’ve heard all the jokes, but if you want to know what Jersey is REALLY about, you need to check out Kerri Sullivan‘s (@ksulphoto) New Jersey Fan Club: Artists and Writers Celebrate the Garden State (Rutgers University Press).
It features essays by Jen A. Miller, Scott Neumyer, and Chris Gethard. There are comics, photos, interviews, it’s pretty damn great.
Continue reading “Episode 325: Kerri Sullivan”
By Brendan O’Meara
Chris Solomon is here!
He is a contributing editor to Outside Magazine, and his latest piece “I’ll take the high road” is what prompted me to reach out to him. We also talk about his GQ essay about his mother and father.
He’s @chrisasolomon on Twitter and you can find more about him and his work at chrissolomon.net.
Had a nice time around the CNFin’ campfire talking shop, freelancing, reporting on personal stories, and finding ways to make the “I” implicit vs. IN YOUR FACE.
Continue reading “Episode 324: Chris Solomon”By Brendan O’Meara
Leigh Baldwin and Sean Williams are here to talk about “Follow the Leader,” their latest piece for The Atavist.
Here’s the teaser for it:
“In the waning days of the Iron Curtain, Rainier Sonntag helped fuel the neo-Nazi movement that still plagues Germany today. He was also a Communist spy—and he was working for Vladimir Putin.”
Go ahead, TRY and not read it.
Continue reading “Episode 323: Leigh Baldwin and Sean Williams”Become a Patron!View on Zencastr
By Brendan O’Meara
Leah Sottile (a fellow Oregonian) is the author of When the Moon Turns to Blood: Lori Vallow, Chad Daybell, and a Story of Murder, Wild Faith, and End Times (Twelve Books). She’s the producer behind Bundyville seasons 1 and 2, and a superstar freelancer who work has appeared in Playboy, The Atavist, Outside Magazine, and The New York Times Magazine.
She’s basically everything I want to be in life … and look at those tattoos!
Leah (@leah_sottile) came to play ball and we dig into what it’s been like reporting on the far right, early freelancing wins, building reporting skills, and her heavy metal radio shows. It’s a good one, CNFers.
Continue reading “Episode 322: Leah Sottile”
By Brendan O’Meara
Well, well, well, look who came back to the podcast for her third time: It’s Ruby McConnell (@rubygonewild)!
She’s the author of the wonderful collection Ground Truth: A Geological Survey of a Life, as well as the author of A Woman’s Guide to the Wild. Past episodes with Ruby can be found here and here.
We had a nice conversation about juggling projects, when writing becomes a slog, style, ambition, and patience. If you’re a little frustrated, you’re going to enjoy this conversation.
Continue reading “Episode 321: Ruby McConnell”Become a Patron!
Howard Bryant is the author of many, many books, most recently Rickey: The Life and Legend of an American Original (Mariner Books).
It’s a tremendous books, one that delves into the life of the great lead-off hitter Rickey Henderson and puts his life into context, builds a world around Rickey.
Howard is the author of The Last Hero: A Life of Henry Aaron, Full Dissidence: Notes from an Uneven Playing Field, and The Heritage, among many others. He has covered baseball for many years, is a senior writer for ESPN, and is a contributor to NPR’s Weekend Edition. He also was the 2017 guest editor for Best American Sports Writing.
Continue reading “Episode 320: Howard Bryant”
By Brendan O’Meara
Many of you know I’m a newsletter junkie. I collect them like baseball cards.
And Neal Bascomb, author of Faster, Red Mutiny, and several other gripping books of narrative journalism, has newsletter out called Work/Craft/Life.
Neal (@nealbascomb) profiles regular people about the craft of their work. Each profile is a wonderful character sketch of how people go about their work. It’s like Humans of New York, Studs Terkel, This American Life, and Walt Harrington’s Acts of Creation rolled into one. It’s great, and Neal’s just getting started with profiles of an abstract artist, a chef, and an ER doctor. Soon, he’ll have one of a war reporter.
We talk about how this departure stemmed from book burnout, what energizes him about these profiles, and how he disagrees with John McPhee about tape recorders.
Continue reading “Episode 319: Neal Bascomb”
By Brendan O’Meara
Greg Donahue (@GregJDonahue) is a freelance journalist, and he returns to The Atavist Magazine for “The Fugitive Next Door.”
It’s a riveting story, but what else would you expect from the Atavist or Greg?
Greg talks about some of his writerly insecurities, the power of endings, and a dynamite recommendation dealing with sentences.
We start off this episode speaking with Jonah Ogles, the lead editor of this piece.
More show notes TK. I promise!
Continue reading “Episode 318: Greg Donahue”