Ten years.
Ten years since “20 Minutes at Rucker Park” by Flinder Boyd (@FlinderBoyd) for SB Nation Longform for the incomparable editor Glenn Stout.
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.
Continue reading “Episode 355: Flinder Boyd”
It’s that Atavistian time of the month! This time we speak with Madeline Bodin, a freelance journalist based out of Vermont.
Her piece “The Curious Case of Nebraska Man” is the story of a fossilized tooth that spurs the debate over evolution and creationism and, as often happens in this country, pins science into a corner where it must be defended again, again, and again.
In this pod, I also speak with editor-in-chief Seyward Darby. Sidebar: She has a new piece in The Guardian about abused beagles. Is there nothing she can’t do? Maybe play drums …
Continue reading “Episode 349: Madeline Bodin”
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”
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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.
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Dan Schwartz (@CODanSchwartz) is an investigative journalist.
Good night, everybody! Get home safe!
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OK, but, for real, Dan is a freelance journo whose most recent piece came out in the Atlantic. It deals with climate change and how local meteorologists are the best vectors for convincing the skeptics about the climate cancer. Read it here.
Fun fact: I wrote about a local weatherman. Not as adeptly as Dan handles his piece for the Atlantic, but, hey, I’m a man in the arena, bruh.
Continue reading “Episode 306: Dan Schwartz”
By Brendan O’Meara
“Working outside of journalism before working in journalism can be a useful thing in terms of seeing how the world works.” —Katie Baker (@katiebakes)
Hey there, CNFers, it’s The Creative Nonfiction Podcast, the show where I speak to the best artists about telling true stories, whether that’s narrative journalists, documentary filmmakers, essay and memoir writers and radio producers, I try unpack their lives and their work so you can apply those tools of mastery to your own work.