writing – Page 13 – Home of The Creative Nonfiction Podcast

Episode 294: ‘We Wish to be Able to Sing’, Mike Damiano Talks About His Atavist Story

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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.

And you know I’d rather you sign up for my Up-to-11 Newsletter. Signup form is below you and to your right. Book recs, book raffles, cool stuff curated by me for you, CNFin’ happy hour or writing group, writing prompts, fun and entertaining. First of the month. No spam. Can’t beat it.

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Episode 293: The ‘Supremely Tiny Acts’ of Sonya Huber

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Sponsor love: West Virginia Wesleyan College’s MFA in Creative Writing

By Brendan O’Meara

Look who’s back? It’s Sonya Huber!

What a treat!

She the author of the memoir Supremely Tiny Acts: A Memoir of a Day (Mad Creek Books) and it’s one of the best experiences I had reading a book in 2021.

In this episode we talk about:

Episode 292: Chip Scanlan says, ‘A Writer is Someone Who Writes. Period.’

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Sponsor love: West Virginia Wesleyan College’s MFA in Creative Writing

By Brendan O’Meara

Hey, CNFers, Chip Scanlan is here!

Here’s a little ditty from his website:

I am a writer. An author. A writing coach who has helped thousands of writers discover the writer within us all.

And his new book Writers on Writing: Inside the Lives of 55 Distinguished Writers and Editors is out now. And for $10 on Kindle ($15 for paperback) you get insights from the likes of Susan Orlean, Bronwen Dickey, Tommy Tomlinson, David Finkel, Roy Peter Clark, Rosalind Bentley, and many, many more.

In the book, Chip (@chipscanlan) asks four questions of every person:

Episode 291: ‘Simple is the Way to Go’ with Mirin Fader

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Sponsor love: West Virginia Wesleyan College’s MFA in Creative Writing

By Brendan O’Meara

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What’s not to love about Mirin Fader (@mirinfader)?

She’s an incredible writer and reporter. She’s a senior staff writer for The Ringer. On top of that, she’s generous and insightful, and she brought all of that and more to this episode of the podcast.

We talk about her feature on Tyler Skaggs, a notable selection for Year’s Best Sports Writing.

We also dig into her biography Giannis: The Improbable Rise of an MVP.

We talk about failure and persistence and writing and ledes. This is a dream conversation if you’re into the nuts and bolts of writing and reporting long features and books.

Episode 290: ‘Only in Oregon’: How Drawing Political Cartoons is All About the Writing with Jesse Springer

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By Brendan O’Meara

This week, Jesse Springer, an Oregon-based political cartoonist and graphic designer, comes on the show to talk about his new book of cartoons Only in Oregon 1996-2021: 26 Years of Oregon Political Cartoons.

He came by the studio and brought his own very good microphone, so the two of us got to make eye contact. What a concept!

Sure, this is a very specific book that will have appeal largely — if not only — for Oregonians, but we do riff on whether or not political cartoons are journalism, his creative process for working through ideas, getting people to have better “art self esteem,” and a lot more.

The show has a new Instagram handle, @creativenonfictionpodcast, and you can always keep the conversation going on Twitter @CNFPod.

Episode 289: The Atavist’s ‘Feast for Lost Souls’ with Annelise Jolley and Zahara Gomez

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By Brendan O’Meara

Annelise Jolley and Zahara Gomez teamed up to create “A Feast for Lost Souls” for this month’s piece for The Atavist Magazine.

What an incredible story about a group of women who hunt for the bodies of their “disappeared” loved ones, but find ways to honor them through cooking. The Memory Recipe Book is what Zahara helped develop, along with the widows and mothers, to pay tribute to their lost sons and husbands.

Zahara also created a few mini-documentaries as part of this story to go along with Annelise’s incredible reporting and writing of the piece.

Audio Magazine Issue 2: Summer

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By Brendan O’Meara

After much deliberation and deep thoughts (haha), I’m taking the audio magazine 100% public.

Why?

Well, it comes down to reach. Writers want to be read (in this case heard). The Patreon audience is going to be significantly smaller than the public feed for the podcast.

Issue 1 was downloaded about 800 times. Issue 2 went out to about 15, 16 people, since it was Patreon-only.

I polled the Patreon audience because I didn’t want to violate their trust and what they signed up for. 100% of them said to take it to the largest possible audience.

They will get other goodies and perks as a result.

That’s a conversation for another time.

So, for now, enjoy original work from Jake Gronsky, whose essay deals with the end of his minor league baseball career, Krystina Wales, whose day at the beach reveals more than she bargained for, Carrie Hagen, whose found a savior in the unlikeliest of places, and Matthew Denis, who takes us to a special place of his childhood summers. Add to that three original poems from Jorah LaFleur, and you have you a summer-themed issue bound to warm you up.

Hope you brought your sunscreen!

The Patreon audience makes it possible to pay writers for their work, so please consider becoming a member and all that comes with it. Lots of bang-for-buck, IMO!

Episode 288: And the Category Is … Ricky Tucker!

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Sponsor love: West Virginia Wesleyan College’s MFA in Creative Writing

By Brendan O’Meara

Ricky Tucker (@Rick_Tuck_Lit) is a writer, teacher, and voguer. That last one is significant because he’s the author of And the Category Is … : Inside New York’s Vogue, House, and Ballroom Community (Beacon Press).

In it, Ricky takes us into the subculture of ballroom and refuge and freedom it provided the LGBTQ+ community. In this conversation we talk about the fine line between appreciation and appropriation, house mothers and fathers, finding family, writing as service, and how Ricky found his way to being a writer.