Of the many books I’ve read of Glenn’s, this one’s my favorite and it, at long last, is in movie theaters starring Daisy Ridley.
In this episode, we talk about the journey of how this book came to be adapted, the hiccups along the way, how serendipity played a role in the adaptation, and a lot more book-writing stuff you’ll love to hear about.
Emily Sohn (@tidepoolsink) is a freelance journalist based out of Minnesota. For Long Lead, she wrote “The Catch,” an in-depth feature about Virginia Kraft, a trailblazing and complicated woman who was one of the first female writers at Sports Illustrated.
It’s a gripping piece that delves into the ruthlessly ambitious life of Kraft, while weaving in present-day introspection from Emily.
We talk about how she arrived at the story, how she got her head around the research, and the dark night of the soul that always accompanies long work.
Emily’s work has appeared in Long Lead, National Geographic, the Washington Post, Outside, and the New York Times, among others.
This was originally published as Episode 14 on Dec. 6, 2015.
Always nice blow the dust off an older podcast. By virtue of the being older, the snap judgement is that they’re dated. I do go back through and re-edit the paperback podcasts to scrub out what feels dated and keep what’s evergreen.
It helps that, by and large, I try and produce evergreen interviews from the start, but this one had some references to a old job of Glenn’s, which didn’t really fit for 2023.
But what’s left is sure to give you a run for your money, man.
It felt like a good time to knock on Flinder’s door and have a conversation about what the past ten years has been like for him and what the next ten might look like.
He was the author of Running with Ghosts, a memoir of his experience surviving cancer. It’s a wonderful book.
And it’s a tragic loss not only to his family, but also the nonfiction community. A tumor had surfaced, no doubt a result of the treatment he endured as a teenager.
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.
Jackie MacMullan, the legendary basketball writer, is on the podcast to talk about judging what we know to be the final installment of The Best American Sports Writing.
For the 30th and final edition of what we have come to know as The Best American Sports Writing series (Best American Paper, or Houghton Mifflin. Harcourt, (Amazon says Best American Paper, HMH’s website says it’s theirs. I don’t know anymore.), 2020), CNFPod bestie Glenn Stout returns to the show to talk about BASW and the evolution of journalism, or the evolution of the medium.
If you want your fix of Stout, he’s been on the show here, here, and here. All worth listening to. There’s nobody better at distilling what this mess is all about.
Glenn Stout is the author of several books, most recently “The Pats,” and the series editor for Best American Sports Writing.
By Brendan O’Meara
“You look for the narrative, which tells a larger story.” —Glenn Stout (@glennstout)
“I never try to write a valentine. I always try to tell the story straight.” —Glenn Stout
Buckle up, CNFers, I’m Brendan O’Meara and this is my podcast, the show where I speak to the best writers and filmmakers, producers and podcasters about the art and craft of telling true stories. I try and extract habits and routines around the work so you can apply those tools of mastery to your own work.
First off, I’m like WAY behind in blog posts. I have to draw up one for Mary Pilon and Brian Mockenhaupt, but I’ll start with the latest episode and work backwards.
I speak to Glenn about dealing with dead people and how he approached a topic that, on its surface, felt saturated.
“You look at what seem to be time-worn topics and almost without fail you find something and you tell a better story, a newer story, a truer story,” says Glenn.
The first 30-35 minutes of the episode deal with the Babe, but the latter part riffs on random stuff.
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