Nile Cappello (@liketheriver_) is back!
You might remember her from this:
Here’s a link to that story, “The Girl in the Picture.”
And she’s back, this time to talk about kidfluencer culture in “Crushed.” Brace yourself, CNFers, this one’s a doozie.
Continue reading “Episode 354: Nile Cappello”
Sarah Souli (@sgsouli) is here to talk about her new feature for The Atavist Magazine called “A Matter of Honor.” Man, how’d she pull this off?
Three Afghan women were murdered at the border of Greece and Turkey and Sarah doggedly pursued the story to give names, faces, lives to lives of these three women. It’s not a story you’d read to your kid at night, but maybe once you put them to bed?
We dig into how she went about the reporting, how she faced the rejection of this story and kept going, refiled, and landed it with Seyward Darby and The Atavist. Lots of goodies here I think you’ll enjoy, like the clanging monkey hitting cymbals in her head. Yeah, it’s a thing.
Continue reading “Episode 345: Sarah Souli”
By Brendan O’Meara
Cassidy Randall is a freelance writer based out of Montana, and her piece for The Atavist Magazine, “Alone at the Edge of the World,” just dropped.
It’s a harrowing piece and one that really flexes the muscles of what a reporter/writer can do to re-create scenes when they weren’t present for the “main action.”
We talk about how reading fiction helps her with her nonfiction, dealing with rejection, attention to rhythm in sentences, pacing, and a whole lot more.
Continue reading “Episode 336: Cassidy Randall”Become a Patron!View on Zencastr
By Brendan O’Meara
Ever have one of those friends who bails you out of jail? Me neither, but Kim H. Cross came pretty damn close because at the last minute she was willing to fire up the mics and head on down to CNF Pod’s digital HQ for her second time back to the show.
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Kim is the author of What Stands in a Storm and The Stahl House. Her work has been anthologized by Best American Sports Writing (RIP) and Year’s Best Sports Writer (the phoenix!). Something about Kim: few people are more passionate about telling true stories than she is.
In this episode we talk about:
Continue reading “Episode 330: Kim H. Cross”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”
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”
Guess who’s back? It’s Chip Scanlan (@chipscanlan), and he’s here to talk about 33 Ways to Not Screw Up Your Journalism.
It’s a zippy little book that uses contemporary examples that point out blindspots in our reporting and writing and help us fix them for the next day’s work, the next piece.
He hopped on the pod for Ep. 292 about his book Writers on Writing, which is a multi-vitamin of inspiration and writing tips. Actionable to boot.
Continue reading “Episode 316: Chip Scanlan”
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Katia Savchuk speaks fluent Russian. She went to Harvard. She went to the Columbia School of Journalism. She’s written for The New Yorker, The Washington Post, Forbes and … The Atavist!
And that’s what brings Katia (@katiasav) to the podcast this week as we talk about her piece “A Crime Beyond Belief.” It’s an incredible feat of reporting, writing, structure, tension, all the things.
We talk about her Talk of the Town in a recent issue of The New Yorker, “Vlog of War.” We talk about how her viral tweet got her grandmother and father out of Kyiv.
My 94 yo grandmother, a Holocaust survivor, is trapped in her Kyiv apartment with my father. She can’t really walk, and he can’t drive due to a disability. If anyone knows of any resources that can help with evacuation, please let me know.
— Katia Savchuk (@katiasav) March 5, 2022
A rare instance of social media doing some good in this world.
Anyway …
We also talk about tape recorders, empathy, organization, it’s a great chat.
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 rage-against-the-algorithm, 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.
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It’s that Atavistian time of the of month and I get to welcome the journalist Bill Donahue to the podcast to talk about his new piece “The Voyagers.”
Naturally, it’s an incredible piece that is a voyage across the Bering Strait, but, as Bill notes, a voyage across the Cold War.
I also speak with Jonah Ogles, the lead editor of this piece, about what makes for great profile writing and how an editor can help a writer get to “that good place.”
Lot’s of great rawhide to gnaw on in this podcast.
Continue reading “Episode 304: Bill Donahue”
If you’re like me, you like a memoir where the author is hunting for something. Neda Toloui-Semnani is on a quest of sorts in They Said They Wanted Revolution: A Memoir of My Parents (Little a, 2022).
Neda’s father was an Iranian revolutionary who was executed in the early 1980s by the shah’s regime. Neda was a toddler at the time. Neda’s mother and father were part of the protests in Berkley, California and mobilized for change.
While in Iran in the early 80s, Neda recounts the harrowing story of how she and her family escaped Iran after her father was arrested. This book is nuanced and layered and a wonderful read.
Continue reading “Episode 302: Neda Toloui-Semnani”