The Creative Nonfiction Podcast with Brendan O"Meara

75:23

Issue 4: Codes

The Creative Nonfiction Podcast with Brendan O"Meara ·

2026/10/07

It was a few years ago at this point when I came up with the idea of a themed issue of the audio magazine called CODES. I was watching The Mandalorian and these bounty hunters never remove their helmets. They often punctuate an encounter with each other saying, “This is the way.” Staying in the Star Wars world, you could extend the code to Jedis, whose objective is a monk-like devotion to order and justice and a devotion to the Force.Batman has a code that he never kills. That in the Dark Knight,

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71:27

Episode 548: It's Easy for Elizabeth Chamblee Burch...

The Creative Nonfiction Podcast with Brendan O"Meara ·

2026/10/02

"In terms of the research, I can get lost in detective mode. Sometimes it's good if I know, okay, I only have an hour. I'm going to see what what can I learn about this one person in an hour. Then take it in those little pieces, and when I have time, I can get some writing done," says Elizabeth Chamblee Burch, author of The Pain Brokers.Today we have Elizabeth Chamblee Burch, a professor at the University of Georgia School of Law and the debut author of The Pain Brokers: How Con Men, Call Centers,

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81:52

Episode 547: Catherine Grace Katz Needs a Portable...

The Creative Nonfiction Podcast with Brendan O"Meara ·

2026/09/25

"I had a really interesting conversation with a publisher for my first book, and the publisher asked me, 'How are you going to get out of the story?' And I think that's the thing that people often go into it having a great idea of two thirds of a really good story, how it goes up through the climactic action of your narrative. But then there can be this like long trail off where people can't bring themselves to wrap the story up, or not put as much thought into exactly how the story ends," says

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75:11

Episode 546: Seth Wickersham is On That Hill

The Creative Nonfiction Podcast with Brendan O"Meara ·

2026/09/18

"Writing is such a lonely job, and I feel bad for people who don't have a crew. I think you really have to have a crew. I had a college crew my first couple years at ESPN. There was a bunch of us who were young writers and very ambitious. That was a crew. And then we have our group now of people who are on various text threads, you need a band to always know where your head is at any given time, so they can help you tap into those things when you're doing your work," says Seth Wickersham, author of

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72:40

Episode 545: Stories Can Sit in the Notebook for...

The Creative Nonfiction Podcast with Brendan O"Meara ·

2026/09/11

"There are a lot of stories that I come across that almost work or that don't quite work. And early in my career, I think I'd try and chase stories or force them to fit or force them to be a story when they don't actually work as a story," says Matthew Wolfe, author of the book Fires in the Night and the Atavist story "The Bleeding Hearts."Today we welcome back Matthew Wolfe for the third time in about a year. Why, you ask? Well, his first appearance was Ep. 482 for his Atavist story “The Talented

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67:02

Episode 544: Writing a Book is Like Driving a Bus,...

The Creative Nonfiction Podcast with Brendan O"Meara ·

2026/09/04

"Sometimes you swing and a miss on a story, or you get scooped by someone, and I think there's a constant feeling of like you're only as good as your last story, as the last thing you published, and it's hard to shake that," says Joshua Robinson, co-author of The Playbook: The Hidden Forces Shaping Winners and Losers in the Modern NFL (Mariner Books).Joshua Robinson is here. Now, it was SUPPOSED to be a two-headed monster with Jonathan Clegg but SOMEBODY got pulled into an urgent news situation at

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73:49

Episode 543: Doubt, Vulnerability, Confidence. Is...

The Creative Nonfiction Podcast with Brendan O"Meara ·

2026/08/28

"I think it's a great point with writing. You know early on you realize like putting pen to paper or starting to type early on was a massive achievement. There were huge gains, and now you're still grinding to figure out like 'I don't know how to end this chapter. How do I not know how to end a chapter? I've been writing for 20 years. What's wrong with me?' And you realize like this is the gig. This is part of the fun, though. It's also part of the grind, which is why if you asked a runner their

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76:40

Episode 542: Earl Swift and the Battle to Get the...

The Creative Nonfiction Podcast with Brendan O"Meara ·

2026/08/21

"Our our first job, job one, for anybody writing a book, for anybody writing a story of any kind, any length, is to get the reader to that last word. If you don't do that, it doesn't matter what pretty words you drop in the middle of the story. Doesn't matter how brilliantly conceived it is. The story has failed because you have failed to get the reader to the end," says Earl Swift, author of Up on Cove Mountain.It’s Earl Swift with his tenth book. He’s the New York Times bestselling author of

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67:15

Episode 541: 'Touch the Work Every Day' says Shanda...

The Creative Nonfiction Podcast with Brendan O"Meara ·

2026/08/14

"I applaud anyone out there who's done the book circuit and trying to reach readers, because I'm not in this to make a lot of money, not at all. I just want people to read the story. I kind of felt like I owed it to the book to do my end of this effort. That's kind of fueled me to keep going too," says Shanda McManus, MD, author of Brother Epistles: A Sister's Memoir.Today we have Shanda McManus. I’m sorry, Dr. Shanda McManus, whose debut book is a memoir titled Brother Epistles. It is a memoir

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81:35

Episode 540: Holbrook Mohr and Mitch Weiss Tackle ...

The Creative Nonfiction Podcast with Brendan O"Meara ·

2026/08/07

"You have to remember to slow things down. In this world where there's this fast-paced news cycle, and everybody wants to get it out first, this is a different genre, so to speak. You have to slow down. You have to build that trust. You can't expect to get these details on the first interview. More importantly, you have to show you care," says Mitch Weiss, a Pulitzer Prize-winner and co-author of Toxic Lies for The Atavist."When it comes to the writing, it helps that Mitch and I have similar

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80:49

Episode 539: How Jennifer Keishin Armstrong Writes...

The Creative Nonfiction Podcast with Brendan O"Meara ·

2026/07/31

"We probably have some sense of what narrative is. So when your brain starts turning into the little movie camera because this is a juicy scene, then it's like, well, what would I want to show? What what would I want to know here?" says Jennifer Keishin Armstrong, author of Parks and Rec: The Underdog TV Show That Lit'rally Inspired a Vision for a Better America.Dude, we have Jennifer Keishin Armstrong here today. What brings her to the CNF Pod-o-Verse is her latest book, her ninth, titled Parks and

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76:04

Episode 538: The Enduring Mystery of Amelia Earhart...

The Creative Nonfiction Podcast with Brendan O"Meara ·

2026/07/24

"My career is not a straight path; it's a lot of happenstance where I just sort of somehow get a job and then figure out how to do it once I'm there," says Rachel Hartigan, author of Lost: Amelia Earhart's Three Mysterious Deaths and One Extraordinary Life.Today we have Rachel Hartigan, who, yes, is dignified and reputable. She’s the author of Lost: Amelia Earhart’s Three Mysterious Deaths and One Extraordinary Life. It’s published by Nat Geo.We share an agent, so that was how her book got on my

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86:55

Episode 537: Pamela Colloff's Now-or-Never Moment...

The Creative Nonfiction Podcast with Brendan O"Meara ·

2026/07/17

"I feel like before I have the confidence to write in the way that I want to write, where I really own the material, I have to spend so much time with people. I will say at the outset, once I walk someone through what it's going to involve after they say yes to talking to me, I'll say I'm going to be around a lot and you're going to get sick of me," says Pamela Colloff, author of Catch the Devil.Today’s guest, I mean, wow, from the bottom of the diaphragm up, wow. It’s Pamela Colloff. You know her

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56:12

Episode 536: The Blood, Flesh, and Messiness of Human...

The Creative Nonfiction Podcast with Brendan O"Meara ·

2026/07/10

"I love talking with people. I also like that process of trying to shape messy reality into some kind of story, or that moment when you're alone with your notes, and you're trying to figure out how to organize it, and how to bend it into something that works as a story that will carry readers. That's the probably that's the kind of calmest moment for me," says Matthew Wolfe, author of Fires in the Night: The Earth Liberation Front, the FBI, and Secret History of Eco-Sabotage.Hey, CNFers, another

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91:34

Episode 535: Alex Ronan's Masterclass in the Depth of...

The Creative Nonfiction Podcast with Brendan O"Meara ·

2026/07/03

"One of the things that Patrick Radden Keefe told me was, when I'm doing interviews, I'm always thinking about the anecdote that I will tell someone later at a bar, this is the thing I talk about. That's helpful because there's so much to work with even in one interview or one scene, and the those little gems that you pull out instinctively when you're talking to other people have value, and so I'm often thinking about that in terms of writing," says Alex Ronan, who wrote "The Extremist in the

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66:39

Episode 534: Shoeleather Reporting and Exploring the...

The Creative Nonfiction Podcast with Brendan O"Meara ·

2026/06/26

"The mission of a nonfiction writer is to get the damn thing done," says Wil Haygood, author of several books, including his latest The War Within A War: The Black Struggle in Vietnam and at Home.I’m so thrilled to welcome back Wil Haygood to the show to talk about and celebrate his latest book The War Within a War: The Black Struggle in Vietnam and at Home. It’s published by Knopf.Wil is one of the most accomplished journalists and authors working in American letters and just a good-ass dude. He’s

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76:19

Episode 533: Susan Orlean on Her 'Best' Rejection,...

The Creative Nonfiction Podcast with Brendan O"Meara ·

2026/06/19

"You don't have to go to the far ends of the earth, but I'm willing to do that for you, and tell you what I found," says Susan Orlean, bestselling author of several books, including her latest, Joyride: A Memoir.Look who’s back! It’s Susan Orlean, author of the memoir Joyride about her roller coaster career as a writer and journalist spanning decades from her time at Willamette Weekly here in Oregon to the summit of The New Yorker, from her first book Saturday Night to reaching bestseller heights

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79:22

Episode 532: Barry Meier Likes to be Open to Surprises

The Creative Nonfiction Podcast with Brendan O"Meara ·

2026/06/12

"You never know what insight or information you're going to glean from someone, and so I want to be open to surprises. And not have any preconceived notions of what, who this person is, what they're going to tell me, imposing my own values, beliefs, whatever on them, because it's all a discovery," says Pulitzer Prize-winner Barry Meier, whose piece "You Can Run" appears in The Atavist Magazine.Barry Meier is here for another Atavistian chat! Yeah, these have not come out in as timely a manner as I

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73:35

Episode 531: Austin Kleon Goes Beast Mode in 'Don't...

The Creative Nonfiction Podcast with Brendan O"Meara ·

2026/06/05

"I always think, 'Jesus, this person could be reading War and Peace, and they picked up this dopey little book.' You know what I mean? So the best thing I could do is be interesting or helpful. I can't be boring, and I've got to try to be helpful," says Austin Kleon, author of Don't Call It Art: 10 Ways to Create Like a Kid Again.What a pleasure to welcome back Austin Kleon to the show to chat up his new book, his first in seven years, Don’t Call It Art: 10 Ways to Create Like a Kid Again. It’s

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62:19

Episode 530: Finding that 'Sinewy Strength' in the...

The Creative Nonfiction Podcast with Brendan O"Meara ·

2026/06/04

"Maybe your first images are some bulked up organism, or whatever. Then there's that kind of like sinewy strength that you see in like middleweight fighters. Roberto Duran comes to mind as the epiphany, like a super powerful, sinewy guy, right? And so I think that's what we're talking about too, is just those different forms of power, economy is really seductive to me now," says Maccabee Montandon, whose piece on his brother Asher is featured as a "revived" Atavist story.The factory is running

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