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.
Mike Damiano brings 2021 to a close with his piece for the Atavist Magazine about an unlikely revolutionary who helped the people of Easter Island earn rights they deserved from an oppressive Chilean naval regime. It’s the story of Alfonso Rapu a school teacher turned revolutionary via nonviolence. It’s called “We Wish to Be Able to Sing.”
Mike is a staff writer for Boston Magazine, but like many people writing stories for the Atavist, he’d been working on this Easter Island story for years. Atavist becomes like this benevolent foster home for stories that are too long for traditional magazines and too short to be books. And Seyward and Jonah say, come here little story, we’re gonna make you a STAR!
The show has a new Instagram handle, @creativenonfictionpodcast, and you can always keep the conversation going on Twitter @CNFPod.
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Susan Orlean makes her third trip back to the podcast (Ep. 61 and 121), this time to celebrate her latest book, a collection of her magazine work on animals titled … On Animals.
She’s the best selling author The Library Book, Rin Tin Tin, and The Orchid Thief. She’s been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1990s and, as many of you know, seeing a Susan Orlean byline is something like appointment reading. It’s special.
Laura Todd Carns is here to talk about her latest feature for The Atavist Magazine. It’s called “Searching for Mr. X: For eight years, a man without a memory lived among strangers at a hospital in Mississippi. But was recovering his identity the happy ending he was looking for?”
Laura is a novelist, essayist, and journalist whose work has appeared in many places. You can find out more at her website.
In this episode we talk about approaching a story as fiction vs. nonfiction, the challenge of the structure of the piece, collaborating with an editor and how it’s like a record producer and a musician, and more.
First I talk to Seyward Darby, as she was the lead editor of the piece. Enjoy!
First I speak with editor-in-chief Seyward Darby and then let Nile take it from there.
With Nile, we talk about the writing lessons she’s gleaned from bouldering, how she got into true crime as a kind of self-preservation, and how she determines what stories are “worthy.” We also dig into how she got her foot in the door to full time freelancing.
Please enjoy, and consider supporting the show in myriad ways, be that subscribing, leaving a kind review on Apple Podcasts, or even plunking down a few bucks at patreon.com/cnfpod.
This is a fun conversation about the founding of the magazine and Michelle and Catherine are doing to help change the culture. You can find Issue 1 here, and they just went live with Issue 2 this week.
The pair overlapped at Longreads and parlayed much of that experience into Pipe Wrench, so we talk about that, among other things.
At one point Cartherine brings up this notion of “ramen startups,” and she’s referring to a blog post from Paul Graham. This means keeping things lean and nimble and not overextending and growing too fast.
Great talk!
OK, so keep the conversation alive @CNFPod and consider becoming a CNFin’ member at Patreon. There’s where you get exclusive access to the audio magazine, get asked to ask questions of guests, transcripts, coaching, and more. For just $2 a month, you get access to a killer audio product, and we’re going live with Issue 2 in mere days! Patreon.com/cnfpod
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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
Developing sources as an investigative reporter
How COVID affected this story … right at the very end
Finding a new angle on something that was already covered
And that moment when a machete was brandished in Peru
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!
