The Creative Nonfiction Podcast with Brendan O'Meara

"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 di...

"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 th...

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...

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 wa...

"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 beh...

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...

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 cra...

"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 ap...

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...

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 di...

"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 Br...

"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,...

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 voi...

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.

"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. Will...

Earl Swift, author of Chesapeake Requiem, stopped by CNFPod HQ to talk about his reporting and writing life.

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 mor...

"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....

Candice Hare, on-air talent for TVG, joins me on the show this week.

"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 ca...

"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.

"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 Ja...

"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 hum...

"I want to make something happen and I just work really hard to do it," says today's guest Scott Neumyer, a writer and host of the Anxiety Diaries Podcast. Today’s guest has a voice as smooth as velvet. It’s a voice you want to listen to over and over again and you know what? You can! Today I welcome Scott Neumyer to the show. Scott Neumyer is a writer who has been published by The New York Times,...

"I could leave my father as a mystery, because he was the mystery I was trying to solve," says Jean Guerrero. Today I’m joined by a special guest. You may have heard of her, maybe not, but nevertheless her name is Jean Guerrero. She is a television reporter for KPBS in San Diego covering immigration. Too bad that’s not a topical subject. She is the winner of the PEN/FUSION Emerging Writers Prize a...