Isidra Mencos (@isidramencos) lived in Spain during an incredible inflection point. Franco died and along with him his authoritarian regime. It gave way to democracy. It gave way to personal freedom, sexual freedom, bodily freedom. And that’s where Promenade of Desire takes off.
Isidra’s book deals with intimacy, or a lack thereof; of being invisible in a big family and finding visibility through love and salsa dancing.
Continue reading “Episode 341: Isidra Mencos”
By Brendan O’Meara
Who doesn’t love an obsessive deep dive? Who doesn’t love a good rabbit hole? And what a rabbit hole Ander Monson‘s Predator: A Memoir, A Movie, An Obsession (Gray Wolf Press) is!
Ander (@angermonsoon) watched “Predator” more than 150 times so you don’t have to. It’s a great movie and Ander’s analysis of it reveals just how brilliant and salient it is. Sure, on the surface it reeks of brawn and would appear to be a rolling advertisement for gun perversion. But Ander folds in his experience into this unconventional memoir while we watch the movie with him.
Can’t recommend the book enough and this conversation should having you getting to the choppah to visit your favorite book seller.
Continue reading “Episode 337: Ander Monson”
By Brendan O’Meara
Steve Brusatte came on the show back in 2018 for his Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs. And he’s back! This time to talk about The Rise and Reign of the Mammals: A New History, From the Shadow of the Dinosaurs to Us.
Hey … that’s us!
Great conversation about how he pivoted from primarily dinosaurs to primarily mammals, climate change, and how dinosaurs and mammals got so damn big.
You can find Steve @SteveBrusatte on Twitter.
Continue reading “Episode 335: Steve Brusatte”
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By Brendan O’Meara
It’s always fun when scientists come on the show. We’ve had a volcanologist on in Jess Phoenix. We’ve had a guy who studies meteors in Greg Brennecka. We’ve had a paleontologies in Steve Brusatte (and he’s coming back). Now we have a physicist/writer in Katrina Miller!
Katrina (@__katrinarenee) is a brilliant writer whose essay tracks her journey as a physics PhD candidate, along with other pioneering Black women physicists. It’s a beautiful piece and it’ll be great to see what Katrina comes up with next. She’ll be wrapping up her dissertation soon, but she plans on pivoting to more science writing vs. academia.
Continue reading “Episode 334: Katrina Miller”
Beer referral link. BRENDANO20 at checkout gets you a nice discount*
By Brendan O’Meara
Cartooning is the best.
And Malaka Gharib (@malakagharib on IG) is one of my favorites. She’s funny, quirky, and wicked smaht.
She’s got a great newsletter (aren’t they ALL the rage these days?), A List of Beautiful Things.
In 2019, her first graphic memoir, I Was Their American Dream, was highly noted by all the notables. And her latest graphic memoir is It Won’t Always Be Like This (Ten Speed Press).
Continue reading “Episode 333: Malaka Gharib”
By Brendan O’Meara
What a treat! Alexandra Lytton Regalado (@alexlregalado) stopped by CNF Pod HQ to talk about her award-winning poetry collection (forthcoming, pre-order now!) Relinquenda (Beacon Press). It was a National Poetry Series winner and with good reason.
Alexandra pushes the form and almost no two poems are alike as she delves into her relationships with father, husband, and men. If her first collection, Matria, dealt with women, this collection deals with men.
Her work has appeared in many places, like our good pals Creative Nonfiction.
It’s a wonderful read, and in this podcast we talk about death and dying, finding flow, style and voice, how to translate, and a whole lot more.
Continue reading “Episode 329: Alexandra Lytton Regalado”
By Brendan O’Meara
This year has been a tough year to book guests. Thankfully some, like Ruby McConnell and Donna Talarico swoop in at the last moment and bail me out.
Sometimes, as was the case earlier this month when I was dealing a family emergency, I couldn’t face the mic and we missed our first week in YEARS.
I’m not a fan of “reruns,” especially when all the episodes are in the feed, but the feed is long and overwhelming. This week, to celebrate HippoCamp22, I figured why not re-surface my HippoCamp21 talk (which garnered such feedback as, “would not see him speak again.” Can’t win ’em all.).
Continue reading “Episode 328 [RERUN]: My #HippoCamp21 Talk — In Their Words: Lessons Learned from the Best of The Creative Nonfiction Podcast”
By Brendan O’Meara
It’s that time of year…it’s HippoCamp Season! Over the Aug. 12-14 weekend, Donna Talarico and her cohort of devoted volunteers will host the seventh conference devoted solely to creative nonfiction writing.
Carmen Maria Machado will be the keynote speaker and there will be dozens of breakout sessions to choose from, be it Allison K. Williams, Jeannine Oullette, or Athena Dixon.
Continue reading “Episode 327: Donna Talarico”
By Brendan O’Meara
Are you a New Jersey hater? We’ve heard all the jokes, but if you want to know what Jersey is REALLY about, you need to check out Kerri Sullivan‘s (@ksulphoto) New Jersey Fan Club: Artists and Writers Celebrate the Garden State (Rutgers University Press).
It features essays by Jen A. Miller, Scott Neumyer, and Chris Gethard. There are comics, photos, interviews, it’s pretty damn great.
Continue reading “Episode 325: Kerri Sullivan”
By Brendan O’Meara
Chris Solomon is here!
He is a contributing editor to Outside Magazine, and his latest piece “I’ll take the high road” is what prompted me to reach out to him. We also talk about his GQ essay about his mother and father.
He’s @chrisasolomon on Twitter and you can find more about him and his work at chrissolomon.net.
Had a nice time around the CNFin’ campfire talking shop, freelancing, reporting on personal stories, and finding ways to make the “I” implicit vs. IN YOUR FACE.
Continue reading “Episode 324: Chris Solomon”