Sponsor love: West Virginia Wesleyan College’s MFA in Creative Writing
Achy Obejas is a Cuban American writer, translator, and activist whose work focuses on personal and national identity.
She’s here to talk about her book of poetry Boomerang/Bumeran (Beacon Press), which is English and Spanish.
Achy also is the author of the novel Days of Awe and the story collection The Tower of the Antilles.
In this conversation, we talk about:
Continue reading “Episode 287: Boomerang with Achy Obejas”
Sponsor love: West Virginia Wesleyan College’s MFA in Creative Writing
This was a treat, getting to speak with Jen Winston, the debut author behind Greedy: Notes from a Bisexual Who Wants Too Much (Atria).
In this episode we talk about:
Continue reading “Episode 286: Jen Winston on Essay Collection as Memoir”
Tony Perrottet is a journalist, historian, and author of six books.
His latest piece is “The Butcher of Havana,” this for The Atavist Magazine.
We talk about the central figure, Herman Marks, an American who became the chief executioner for the Cuban revolutionaries. It’s an incredibly gripping read.
Continue reading “Episode 285: Tony Perrottet and ‘The Butcher of Havana’”
By Brendan O’Meara
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.
In this episode, we talk about:
Continue reading “Episode 281: Susan Orlean Tackles Ledes, Generating Story Ideas, and ‘On Animals’”
Sponsor love: West Virginia m Wesleyan College’s MFA in Creative Writing and The Facing Project’s Empathy Prize for Nonfiction
What a treat!
It’s Athena Dixon (@AthenaDDixon), the author of the essay collection The Incredible Shrinking Woman (Split Lip Press).
Had a great chat about day jobs and threading the work you want to do around that, how there’s no “writer’s life,” but rather just a “writer living.” That’s a direct quote from her Hippocamp talk this year.
Her essay collection delves into her identity as a Black woman, divorce, relationships, sex, the masks we where, and so on. Highly recommend.
Continue reading “Episode 279: Athena Dixon on Opening Doors, Day Jobs, and the Personal Essay”
Allison K. Williams is back! (@guerillamemoir) She is here to talk about her incredible new craft book Seven Drafts: Self-Edit Like a Pro from Blank Page to Book, a book that digs into the nitty gritty of editing.
What is so great about this book is you can be a seasoned, skilled writer/editor and this book will level you up. The book is a gift, and so too is Allison.
She’s the 2021 Literary Citizen of the Year for Hippocamp. She’s also the social media editor (?) for Brevity Magazine, and many of her craft essays for Brevity are adapted in Seven Drafts. Dig it.
In any case, we dig into lots of stuff about editing, story holes, retyping entire manuscripts, and what it means to cultivate a “writer’s life.”
Consider supporting the podcast and the audio magazine by heading to Patreon.com/cnfpod. There, you can earn transcripts, coaching, editing, and get exclusive access to the audio magazine.
Wudan Yan and Jenni Gritters are back!
They host The Writers’ Co-op Podcast, and it is back for Season 3, a season in which they focus on coaching.
Lots of good stuff here including:
Follow Wudan and Jenni on Twitter, as well as @CNFPod, and learn more about them, their work, and their services at their websites.
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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.
By Brendan O’Meara
A great pleasure to welcome back Elena Passarello to the show to talk about … jeez … just about everything.
This was very much a shoot-the-shizz pod, but when it comes to Elena, there are few people you’d rather be listening to. So if you dug episodes with Bronwen Dickey and Peter Brown Hoffmeister, you’re in the right place, CNFers!
Continue reading “Episode 254: Elena Passarello on Weird Freelance Work, Podcasting, and Oatmeal Brain”
Rob Harvilla (@harvilla), a Ringer staff writer and the mastermind behind the Spotify Original 60 Songs that Explain the 90s, comes by the show to talk about the flannel-clad 90s. As an aside, most of my wardrobe is flannel. I still wear some of my old flannel from this time. Anyway …
His podcast is great, especially if you love the 90s or came of age in the 90s, as I did.
So you know we dig into some of the great 90s vocalists, what these songs say about the 90s and Rob, and also how this podcast is actually stealth memoir over music criticism.
Hope you enjoy it. If you do, consider linking up to the show and tagging it @CNFPod. And if you want access to forthcoming audio magazines and want to support that endeavor (and pay writers!), head over to patreon.com/cnfpod.