“If you’re gonna be a writer, you gotta sweat,” says James Carl Nelson. James Carl Nelson, author of The Polar Bear Expedition: The Heroes of America’s Forgotten Invasion of Russia, 1918-1919, came by the show. The Creative Nonfiction Podcast, the show where I talk to badass writers, filmmakers, and producers about the art and craft of telling true stories. It’s here we learn how they became the artists they are, the struggles they deal with, and the routines that allow them to get the work done...
Feb 22, 2019•1 hr
"The freak-of-nature-tiger was actually a man-made disaster," says Dane Huckelbridge, @huckelbridge. You’re here because you love listening to badass writers, filmmakers, and producers talk about the art and craft of true stories. I try and unpack their journey and how they go about the work, so you can apply those tools of mastery to your own work. Be sure to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and hand this episode over to a friend you think would benefit from it. If you want to leave a w...
Feb 15, 2019•1 hr 5 min
"You build good habits but the terrain going forward should be unknown to you," says Connor Ratliff. Hey, What’s up there CNFers, today’s guest is none other than Connor Ratliff, actor, comedian, writer, and performer for the Upright Citizen’s Brigade: Hey, it’s The Creative Nonfiction Podcast, the show where I speak to badass writers, filmmakers, and producers about the art and craft of telling true stories. I trace their origin stories and get to the heart about how they go about the work. Go ...
Feb 08, 2019•1 hr 29 min
"Clarity is a goal I want to be working toward. The more clear a piece of writing is, the more honest it feels," says three-time guest Bronwen Dickey (@BronwenDickey). Bronwen is the author of "Pit Bull: The Battle Over an American Icon" and a kick-ass journalist, writer, and teacher. Little change of pace with this episode as it is just us talking shop for an hour. Keep the conversation going on Twitter @BrendanOMeara and @CNFPod. Head over to brendanomeara.com for show notes and to subscribe t...
Feb 01, 2019•1 hr 17 min
J. Hope Stein, author of the book of poems "Little Astronaut", stopped by the show to talk about her wonderful writing and how she draws power from the sheer act of doing. Follow her on Twitter @poetrycrush and follow me and the show @BrendanOMeara and @CNFPod!
Jan 25, 2019•57 min
"Don't worry if you go through a fallow period. It doesn't mean there's something wrong with you," says Leanna James Blackwell. Leanna James Blackwell (@baypathmfaCNF) stopped by the show to talk about her True Story essay "Lethe," as well grabbing hold of ideas, dealing with fallow times, and finding community. This episode is brought to you by Goucher College's MFA in Nonfiction. Join me on Twitter @BrendanOMeara and @CNFPod to keep the conversation going! Subscribe to the show and consider le...
Jan 18, 2019•1 hr
"I always felt this indescribable pull to create something I'm proud of. 'Look. I made this,'" says Harrison Scott Key. Harrison Scott Key came back to the show to talk about his amazing work. Since that day way back in 2013, Harrison has published his first memoir The World’s Largest Man about his father, which also won the Thurber Prize for the funniest book in the country. And his latest book, Congratulations, Who Are You Again? Was my single favorite book from 2018. Do you subscribe this her...
Jan 11, 2019•1 hr 11 min
"We all need little successes," says today's guest Vanya Erickson. Vanya Erickson, author of the memoir Boot Language. You can find her at vanyaerickson.com, that’s Erickson with a CK, and follow her on Facebook @vanyaerickson.author. In this episode we talk a lot about how she survived her often brutal upbringing. It was one of emotional and physical abuse from two parents who couldn’t be more different. Subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts. Follow the show on Twitter @CNFPod an...
Jan 04, 2019•1 hr 3 min
"When I experience something interesting that happens I need to compose it in words," says Laura Hillenbrand. In many ways this is the logical conclusion of The Creative Nonfiction Podcast. This is the Tony Soprano cut-to-black moment, Walter White dying beside his precious meth lab, or Gollum plummeting into the fires of Mt. Doom with the Ring of Power clutched in his hand. This interview with the one and only Laura Hillenbrand was about two years in the making and through unshakable endurance ...
Dec 28, 2018•1 hr 1 min
Welcome my CNFin’ buddy, how are YOU, doing? I’m @BrendanOMeara, Brendan O’Meara in real life and this is @CNFPod, or The Creative Nonfiction Podcast, the show where I speak to badass writers, filmmakers, and producers about the art and craft of telling true stories. If you want to get better at the form, you’ve come to the right place. This is our little corner of the Internet. If you’re here for the first time, welcome, welcome, crack open a notebook, pour yourself a cup of coffee and settle i...
Dec 21, 2018•50 min
Today's guest is Alexandra DiPalma, freelance podcast producer to the max! Man, you're gonna love hearing all about her. @LSDiPalma on Twitter. Be sure to subscribe on iTunes and wherever you get your podcasts. Visit brendanomeara.com to subscribe to my monthly newsletter. Once a month. No spam. Can’t beat that. So… I’ve done 130 of these podcasts starting incredibly raw with the most primitive ways of recording till now where I even have a boom arm to hold up the microphone. Yet, yet...I ponied...
Dec 14, 2018•1 hr 2 min
"You're whole life adds up to who you are," says filmmaker Lisa D'Apolito. This is of course The Creative Nonfiction Podcast, the show where I talk to bad-ass writers, filmmakers, and producers about the art and craft of telling true stories whereby I unpack their artist journey and tap into their routines and habits about doing the work. This week for Ep. 129 is Lisa D’Apolito, the mastermind behind the brilliant documentary Love, Gilda about the legendary comedian and comedic actor Gilda Radne...
Dec 07, 2018•57 min
If you’re anything like me, and one assumes you are because you find some value in this humble little podcast, you need constant prodding in a sense. That can either be to get your work done or to get your brain in check. I’m one of those dudes who gets pretty down pretty easily, so it helps to have guests on who inspire me. Enter David Lee Morgan, @davidleemorgan on Twitter. David was a long time sports writer for the Akron Beacon Journal and most recently he turned his attention to teaching hi...
Nov 30, 2018•1 hr 36 min
Did you know it’s Di-November. Not die as in death, but dino as in dinosaurs, which is how and why today’s guest is Sam Chiarelli (@DinophileSam on Twitter), author of the memoir Dig: A Personal Prehistoric Journey, published by Hippocampus Books. What is up? It’s the Creative Nonfiction Podcast, the show where I speak to bad-ass writers, filmmakers, producers, and podcasters about the art and craft of telling true stories. I try and unpack their artist journey as well as habits and routines so ...
Nov 23, 2018•1 hr 16 min
"I never try to write a valentine. I always try to tell the story straight," says Glenn Stout, who makes his third visit to the podcast. Buckle up, CNFers, I’m Brendan O’Meara and this is my podcast, the show where I speak to the best writers and filmmakers, producers and podcasters about the art and craft of telling true stories. I try and extract habits and routines around the work so you can apply those tools of mastery to your own work. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, steam on Spotify, find the...
Nov 16, 2018•1 hr 14 min
Brin-Jonathan Butler has the world record for appearances on The Creative Nonfiction Podcast at four times.His new book The Grandmaster: Magnus Carlsen and the Match that Made Chess Great Again is a masterpiece. Be sure to visit Brendan O’Meara.com for show notes and to sign up for my monthly newsletter. If you want to connect on social, I”m @BrendanOMeara and @CNFPod on twitter. On Facebook you can search for the podcast by name and the hanlde @CNFPodHost. If you’re an Instagrammer, I post draw...
Nov 09, 2018•2 hr 2 min
Natalie Singer, author of California Calling: A Self Interrogation comes by the show this week. So here we are again. Happy to say last week’s episode was featured in Creative Nonfiction Magazine’s November newsletter as a “distraction,” meant only as flattery, of course. Jane Friedman, THAT Jane Friedman, also gave us a great shoutout in a blog post a few weeks ago. That’s riff worthy… Oh, you didn’t think I was gonna drop that hammer did you, sucka? Hey, this is The Creative Nonfiction Podcast...
Nov 02, 2018•1 hr 15 min
"I wanted to dig deeper into the essay collection AS they essay," says Elena Passarello. Welcome wayward CNFers, it’s the Creative Nonfiction Podcast, the show where I speak to bad ass writers, filmmakers, movers and shakers about the art and craft of telling true stories. Here you’ll learn the story, tips, and tactics that will inspire you to greater heights in your own own work. I’m your host Brendan O’Meara, hey, hey. Yeah, it’s Elena Passarello, not only is she wicked smaht, but we had a sup...
Oct 26, 2018•1 hr 49 min
"The possibilities of doing something similar [to fiction] in nonfiction really did appeal to me," says Tracy Kidder, winner of the Pulitzer Prize. Are you riffin’ kiddin’ me!? By virtue of today’s guest I’m assuming there might be a new CNFer or two to our little marauding gang of turbulent souls in this corner of the Internet. Welcome. We play heavy metal music, we kick maximum ass, and we will, we will rock you. This is the Creative Nonfiction Podcast, the show where I speak to bad ass teller...
Oct 19, 2018•56 min
Oh, hey, welcome to the show, CNFers, and, my, my, my are you in for a treat. Susan Orlean, @susanorlean on Twitter, a New Yorker staff writer and the best selling author of The Orchid Thief, Rin Tin Tin, and now her latest book, The Library Book, is out now. And it’s everything you’d expect from her work. But before we get to that, maybe you’re new to the show. Let me tell you what me and the voices in my head are up to here. This is The Creative Nonfiction Podcast, the show where I speak to gr...
Oct 12, 2018•1 hr 3 min
Eli Saslow is a Pulitzer Prize—winning journalist for The Washington Post and author of the book "Rising Out of Hatred." Thanks to our sponsors Goucher College's MFA for Nonfiction and Creative Nonfiction Magazine. Lots to love in the episode. I hope you dig it, and if you do, please share with a friend and even consider leaving an honest review over on Apple Podcasts.
Oct 05, 2018•1 hr 20 min
"Every project I do has made me more fit and better to do my next project," says Allison K. Williams. It’s The Creative Nonfiction Podcast, the show where I speak to the very best in the genre of telling true stories, how they got to where they are and the tools, tips, and tricks that make them so good at what they do. I’m your host Brendan O’Meara. Today’s guest is none other than Allison K. Williams. She’s @GuerillaMemoir on Twitter and you can visit her website at idowords.com. Allison is a p...
Sep 28, 2018•1 hr 12 min
Earl Swift, author of Chesapeake Requiem, stopped by CNFPod HQ to talk about his reporting and writing life.
Sep 21, 2018•1 hr 16 min
Today I present to you Steve Brusatte, author of The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: A New History of the Lost World. The entirety of the book is brilliant but the way Steve talks about T-rexes and the Asteroid are some of the most compelling reading you’ll come across. What’s so great about this show is Steve’s passion for his work and the story behind the book, which is part serendipity, but more just how doing your THING, whatever that is over and over and over again SHOWING UP and what good ...
Sep 14, 2018•51 min
"I find it inspiring to see people have successes. It makes me want to do better stuff," says Scott C. Scott is an author and illustrator and his latest wonderful creation is Adventures in Drawing: A Guided Sketchbook. This thing is tons of fun. I love drawing as a way unplugging my brain from my daily nonsense. His Instagram feed is chock full of his amazing and playful sketches and water colors. His great showdowns are hilarious and cute and fun. I won’t do them justice by talking about them s...
Sep 07, 2018•1 hr 5 min
Candice Hare, on-air talent for TVG, joins me on the show this week.
Aug 31, 2018•1 hr 22 min
"The great thing is if you find the right story it often is more interesting than fiction because it's weird and quirky," says author Matthew Polly. Today’s guest is Matthew Polly. You can find him on Twitter @MatthewEPolly or visit his website mattpolly.com. He’s the author of three books of nonfiction, most recently Bruce Lee: A Life. He’s a graduate of Princeton and a Rhode’s Scholar, so you can say my 1050 SAT score didn’t exactly level me up any in this conversation. You think you know Bruc...
Aug 24, 2018•1 hr 11 min
"We're not each other's competition; we're each other's colleagues," says Jennifer Gregory. Content marketing superstar Jennifer Gregory came by the show this week. Her book, the Freelance Content Marketing Writer, could be a life changer for you. @ByJenGregory on Twitter, @BrendanOMeara and @CNFPod on Twitter.
Aug 17, 2018•1 hr 12 min
"Revision as you go along can be tremendously destructive of what you're doing," says author Paul Willetts. I’ve had quite a run of late of guests from the other side of the pond as it were. Today is no different as I welcome Paul Willetts to the show. Paul is very smart and he loves the work. He is the author of several books of nonfiction, most recently King Con: the Bizarre Adventures of the Jazz Age’s Greatest Imposter.” Yes, that’s right. Hey, there CNFers, I’m Brendan O’Meara and this is m...
Aug 10, 2018•42 min
"You're really finding the film in editing the documentary," says Emer Reynolds. The brilliant filmmaker Emer Reynolds' documentary The Farthest chronicles the incredible story behind the Voyager Mission and the desire to seek out the unknowable while also seeking to be known. The Golden Record, Carl Sagan, the personification of this little spacecraft carrying with it everything that makes us human. My guest today is based in Ireland and talks about the craft of making doc film, her obsessivene...
Aug 03, 2018•1 hr 9 min
