“I’m never going to let an editor push me off my square in terms of voice.” — Mitchell S. Jackson
Several Pultizer Prize—winners have graced the CNF Pod main stage, and, wow!, we get to add the incomparable Mitchell S. Jackson to the roster. What a thrill to talk to this brilliant writer and thinker.
His accolades are too long to list, but here are a few (for more, visit mitchellsjackson.com).:
- He won the aforementioned Pulitzer Prize for his piece on the murder of Ahmaud Arbery for Runners World titled “Twelve Minutes and a Life,” which we talk about a bit. (Edited by Leah Flickinger)
- He’s a regular writer for Esquire and among his many profiles is this one on Chris Rock, which we talk about a bit.
- His first novel, The Residue Years, was nominated (and won) several “first novel” awards.
- Survival Math: Notes on an All-American Family was listed by fifteen different publications as one of their best books of the year in 2019.
- He famously studied with Gordon Lish, which we talk about; and it was Lish who told Mitchell that he could be great. (And, in Lish, fashion, he cut Mitchell out of his life.)
And, damn, he sure is great.
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