For this month’s Atavist, Lily Hyde wrote “Two Thousand Miles from Home,” as Russia invaded Ukraine, theree women from the same family became pregnant at the same time. Then the war tore them apart.
Pretty bonkers, right?
Just wait till you read it.
Lily riffs on how she arrived at this story, how she came to live in Ukraine, the novel that’s helping her narrative nonfiction, and how she earns trust.
We start off by speaking with lead editor Jonah Ogles so, you know, you’re gonna get some inside baseball from the other side of the table.
There are many kinds of love stories. This one involves a woman and an elephant, and their bond spanning nearly 50 years. It involves devotion and betrayal. It also raises difficult questions about the relationship between humans and animals, about control and freedom, about what it means to own another living thing.
Shannon wrote this piece on spec as it was part of her MFA project from the University of Georgia. This is something of a rarity for Seyward Darby, editor-in-chief of the Atavist, and we talk a little bit about that at the top of the show.
Sarah Souli (@sgsouli) is here to talk about her new feature for The Atavist Magazine called “A Matter of Honor.” Man, how’d she pull this off?
Three Afghan women were murdered at the border of Greece and Turkey and Sarah doggedly pursued the story to give names, faces, lives to lives of these three women. It’s not a story you’d read to your kid at night, but maybe once you put them to bed?
We dig into how she went about the reporting, how she faced the rejection of this story and kept going, refiled, and landed it with Seyward Darby and The Atavist. Lots of goodies here I think you’ll enjoy, like the clanging monkey hitting cymbals in her head. Yeah, it’s a thing.
This was a fun book, especially if you like Malcolm Gladwell-style books that orbit one idea. This book takes you all over the place, not just basketball, so I think you’ll have a lot of fun with it. If I didn’t already put in the last newsletter, I’ll be sure to include it in the next one.
In any case, don’t forget that we’re putting out our very first audio-mag on the theme: Social Distancing, essays from/on isolation. They must be 2,000 words or fewer (that’s a 15-minute read) and be original work. Email you submission to creative nonfiction podcast at gmail dot com, ya dig?
That’s as good a time as any to say that I’m thinking of all you out there. Some have it pretty rough. I can’t complain. I have shelter, food, clothes and a job (for now) that lets me work from home. And I’ve got this podcast that I get to make for you.
This show only work if you share it hand to hand. Be an Ambassador CNFer and spread what we’re doing around. @CNFPod on all the social platforms.
Welcome back, CNFers! The 301 Redirect is live so you should be getting that bump of CNF now in your feeds. Sorry about that missed week there. Things got broke. Acutally, things are still mildly broken with some older episodes. The podcast gremlins are on it.
Steven Kurutz is here. He’s a features writer for The New York Times, and it was his essay for Creative Nonfiction’s True Story, “Fruitland,” that made me want to reach out.
This was a fun one and I hope you dig it. If you do, please share it with your immediate network. That’s how I want this show to keep growing, not by interrupting people with Facebook ads, but by you deciding it has value and sharing it with your friends. Hand to hand. You’re the social network, man.
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Keep the conversation going on Twitter @CNFPod. Let me know your thoughts. Podcast for your thoughts.
“This is not something that comes overnight. It’s a long, arduous road,” says Mark Kram Jr.
Mark Kram Jr., author of Smokin’ Joe: The Life of Joe Frazier, joined me for a great conversation about his early career and the struggles he overcame.
He learned on the job, more or less. He said he was a late bloomer (Something I can attest to. Still waitin’ on my bloom.)
Mark has won the PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sports Writing and has been anthologized The Best American Sports Writing six times.
As always, if you dig the show, please share this across your social networks. Tag the show @CNFPod on Twitter and I’ll jump in the fire with you. You can subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts.
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