Sponsor love: West Virginia Wesleyan College’s MFA in Creative Writing and HippoCamp21. Use CNFPod21 for $50 off your registration!
Become a Patron!Cecilia Brown (@cecilbrownn) is on the show to talk about “So Nice to Hear Your Voice,” her This American Life essay about her grandmother. We get into the behind-the-scenes of the piece. Great stuff.
What else do we get into?
Continue reading “Episode 269: The Visionary Life of Cecilia Brown, Making Pictures, and This American Life”
“I. Will. Write. This. Book. There’s no turning back,” says Bob Welch, @bob_welch23 on Twitter.
Bob is the author of several books, most recently is Saving My Enemy, a story of an American and a German WWII vet who forged a friendship late in life that led them down the path to forgiveness. Great book.
Bob was a long-time columnist at The Register-Guard in Eugene and has written books like The Wizard of Foz: Dick Fosbury’s One-Man High-Jump Revolution and Resolve.
We had a great conversation about “hiking your own hike” and how the famous writer Jon Krakauer actually stole Bob’s girlfriend back in high school in Corvallis, Oregon.
Great talk and good, good fun.
Keep the conversation going on social media @CNFPod and consider becoming a member at the Patreon page. It’s how you get access to the audio magazine, as well as transcripts and coaching. You dollars go directly into (50% goes to Patreon and Uncle Sam) the making of the podcast and paying writers. If you freelance, you get the titanic tax burden that’s on the freelancer. Oh, you got a $1,000 check! That’s nice! $500 of that needs to be skimmed off and goes to taxes, sooooo….
Anyway!
Enjoy this conversation and let me know what you think. HMU!
View on Zencastr
Jordan Michael Smith (@WriterJMS) stops by for this month’s extra podcast to celebrate his piece for The Atavist Magazine.
It’s called “The Snitch,” and details the story around the serial killer Scott Kimball, but, more specifically, the mistakes made by the FBI, thus turning this true-crime yarn on its head.
Jordan talks about:
Continue reading “Episode 260: Jordan Michael Smith Spins a True-Crime Yarn for The Atavist”
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.
Lindsay Jones took a deep dive into the cottage hospital industry in Canada, specifically in Newfoundland, and what she found was shocking, alarming, but ultimately heart warming.
It was not unlike when the great journalist Earl Swift spent time on a small island town in Chesapeake Bay and said, “The process of being a fly on the wall doesn’t rely on folks forgetting you’re a reporter.”
And not unlike when Scott Eden made the trip down to Peru, or when Phil Hoad shadowed a couple pet detectives, Jones takes us to a new place, small, intimate, and beautiful.
Oh, and the writing is great, too.
Continue reading “Episode 250: Lindsay Jones and Her Atavist Story ‘The Lives of Others’”
“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.
Continue reading “Episode 248: Humble and Important Gifts with Bronwen Dickey”
Phil Hoad (@phload) is a journalist based in the south of France and his latest piece is featured in The Atavist. It’s titled “Cat and Mouse.”
It tells the story of two animal rights activists and their drive to find who they think is a serial killer of cats, rabbits, and foxes, but mainly cats.
In this bonus episode, I speak with lead editor Jonah Ogles (@jonahogles) about Phil’s pitch, what makes certain pitches have legs while others don’t, and the importance of figuring out how to end things. It’s much like when I spoke with Atavist editor-in-chief Seyward Darby.
Then Phil unpacks the story from there.
Continue reading “Episode 245: Phil Hoad and his Atavist Story ‘Cat and Mouse’”Become a Patron!
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.
She’s chronicled the NBA (big ups to Louisa Thomas) since the early 1980s for The Boston Globe, Sports Illustrated and now ESPN.
Her five-part series on mental health in the NBA was widely lauded and a must-read.
Continue reading “Episode 244: Jackie MacMullan on the Fear of Failure, Writing that Teaches You, and the Final Chapter of ‘Best American Sports Writing’”
Scott Eden returns to the show to talk about his incredible and ambitious piece for The Atavist titled “The Guilded Age.”
This extra interview in your feed is part of a new partnership with The Atavist where I interview that month’s featured writer about that month’s story to provide readers and listeners some extra depth to the experience.
In this very first one with The Atavist, Scott talks about:
I hope you dig this extra bit of goodness. If you’re new to The Creative Nonfiction Podcast, it’s the show where I speak to badass people about the art and craft of telling true stories. Subscribe wherever you podcast!
If you want to support the show, the audio magazine we produce and help keep the lights on at HQ, consider becoming a member at patreon.com/cnfpod.
We put out a great monthly newsletter with book recommendations, cool blogs and articles, podcast news, and an exclusive invite to a monthly CNFin’ Happy Hour. Once a month. No spam. Can’t beat it!
Ho! Ho! Ho! CNFers!
What’s that under the tree? It’s Lamorna Ash here to talk about her wonderful debut work of nonfiction Dark, Salt, Clear: The Life of a Fishing Town (Bloomsbury).
Great talk with Lamorna as we dig into how she’s dealing with the pandemic, feeling trapped at sea, drawing inspiration from other forms of art and so much more. She’s 26 years old and you can tell she’s going to be a star. Maybe she already is!
Say hi on social media @CNFPod and, if you have time, leave a kind written review on Apple Podcasts. Almost at 100. Been sitting there for a long, long time.
Being a member on Patreon is HUGE. You’ll be supporting the audio magazine, supporting writers, and making the product possible. No members means no magazine. If you liked Issue 1 of the magazine, consider supporting the next one.
For $4 a month, you’ll get access to new transcripts, the forthcoming audio magazines, and other goodies exclusive to members. Check it out.