creative nonfiction – Page 20 – Home of The Creative Nonfiction Podcast

Episode 257: From the Backside to the Vatican with Joe Drape

Joe Drape is back to talk about his latest book, The Saint Makers: Inside the Catholic Church and How a War Hero Inspired a Journey of Faith.

Joe is a sports writer for The New York Times covering college football and horse racing, among other feature assignments.

In this episode we talk about diagramming stories the way you would diagram a sentence and

His column on Sheik Mo
His feature on Valdosta High School
And figuring out the landscape of today’s path through journalism.

Joe is the author of several books including American Pharoah, Our Boys, and Black Maestro.

I want to give a shoutout to Hippocamp 2021! It is happening! Registration opens May 15. It’s a writers’ conference for CNFers like you. Check it out.

Episode 256: G’Ra Asim and His Mixtape to His Brother ‘Boyz in the Void’

Become a Patron!

By Brendan O’Meara

G’Ra Asim is the author of Boyz in the Void: A mixtape to my brother (Beacon Press). He’s @notjadedpunk on Instagram.

He’s a punk rocker and a killer spinner of yarns. It’s a fantastic book on “navigating Blackness, masculinity, and young adulthood: all through wry social commentary and a music/pop culture critique.

We talk a lot about the DIY nature of art, punk rock, straight-edge culture and why he chose to write this book to his younger brother.

Strap in for a fun one, CNFers.

Episode 255: Maddy Crowell and the ‘Invisible Kid,’ Plus The Atavist Gets a New Look

Become a Patron!

By Brendan O’Meara

Maddy Crowell comes by the show to talk about her new piece for The Atavist Magazine titled “Invisible Kid.”

I also speak with Jonah Ogles, the lead editor of this piece, and Ed Johnson, the designer who led the way in the redesign.

This episode is packed with goodness, much like its Atavistian predecessors in Scott Eden, Phil Hoad, and Lindsay Jones.

Consider subscribing to The Atavist and its once-a-month blockbuster piece of narrative nonfiction. Once a month, can’t beat it … sounds like my newsletter!

Anyway …

We dig into a lot of might juice, and I hope it brightens up your day and wherever you are on your writer journey.

Episode 254: Elena Passarello on Weird Freelance Work, Podcasting, and Oatmeal Brain

Become a Patron!

By Brendan O’Meara

A great pleasure to welcome back Elena Passarello to the show to talk about … jeez … just about everything.

This was very much a shoot-the-shizz pod, but when it comes to Elena, there are few people you’d rather be listening to. So if you dug episodes with Bronwen Dickey and Peter Brown Hoffmeister, you’re in the right place, CNFers!

Episode 253: Julie DiCaro Won’t Be ‘Sidelined’

Become a Patron!

By Brendan O’Meara

Julie DiCaro came by the show to talk about her new book Sidelined: Sports, Culture, and Being a Woman in America.

It’s a fine read, written by someone who definitively has something of value to say. You can find her on Twitter @juliedicaro.

It’s an engaging, entertaining, and sobering read about feminism and the sorry state of women’s representation in sports journalism.

Episode 252: 60 Songs that Explain the 90s … and The Ringer’s Rob Harvilla

Become a Patron!

By Brendan O’Meara

Rob Harvilla (@harvilla), a Ringer staff writer and the mastermind behind the Spotify Original 60 Songs that Explain the 90s, comes by the show to talk about the flannel-clad 90s. As an aside, most of my wardrobe is flannel. I still wear some of my old flannel from this time. Anyway …

His podcast is great, especially if you love the 90s or came of age in the 90s, as I did.

So you know we dig into some of the great 90s vocalists, what these songs say about the 90s and Rob, and also how this podcast is actually stealth memoir over music criticism.

Hope you enjoy it. If you do, consider linking up to the show and tagging it @CNFPod. And if you want access to forthcoming audio magazines and want to support that endeavor (and pay writers!), head over to patreon.com/cnfpod.

Episode 251: Glenn Stout Brings to Life The Tiger Girl and the Candy Kid: America’s First Gangster Couple

Become a Patron!

By Brendan O’Meara

Glenn Stout returns for his fifth time to the podcast, this time to talk about his thrilling new book The Tiger Girl and the Candy Kid: America’s First Gangster Couple.

The book takes us to the 1920s, a time when wars were supposed to be a thing of the past, a pandemic wiped across the globe, and veterans coming from the Great War had little support at home. I’m glad all those things are a relic of the 20th century.

Episode 249: Ximena Vengoechea on Life Audits, Listener Drain, and Reclaiming the Lost Art of True Connection

Become a Patron!

By Brendan O’Meara

Ximena Vengoechea is here to talk about her new book Listen Like You Mean It: Reclaiming the Lost Art of True Connection (Portfolio).

I’ll be honest … this book made me realize what a horrible listener I am. For real.

But I put on my big-boy pants and started applying many of the tools in this wonderful book.

So far as self-helpy-type books go, Ximena’s is right up there with Seth Godin’s The Practice and Annie Duke’s How to Decide.

Episode 248: Humble and Important Gifts with Bronwen Dickey

Become a Patron!

By Brendan O’Meara

“My mind is a very bad neighborhood and I should not go there alone,” says Bronwen Dickey in her fourth trip to the podcast

She was here for Ep. 21, 45, 137 and now 248.

It’s always a good time when I get to catch up with her.

Episode 247: Jason Naylor, In Living Color

Become a Patron!

By Brendan O’Meara

How’s this for a pull quote from Jason Naylor (@jasonnaylor on Instagram):

How do you find your style? How do you find your voice. And the truth is, I think that you don’t find it until you stop trying to find it. You just make work. If you’re a writer, you just keep writing. If you draw, then you just keep drawing, and the more you do it, you start to see patterns, you start to see a rhythm in what you’re doing. And then one day you look back and you realize, ‘Oh, I actually I can see that I have a voice.’

How brilliant is that?

Brendan’s Monthly Newsletter: First of the month! No spam! Can’t beat it!

Brendan’s Monthly Newsletter: First of the month! No spam! Can’t beat it!

Brendan’s Monthly Newsletter: First of the month! No spam! Can’t beat it!

Brendan’s Monthly Newsletter: First of the month! No spam! Can’t beat it!