The Sunday Long Read Podcast

Where is Rachel Syme's favorite people-watching perch in New York City? What would her ideal beat be? One of our favorite profile writers—and a soon-to-be author—discusses those topics and many, many more on this week's podcast. She also explains the "tricky, transactional nature of profile writing," how she thinks of interviews as first dates, and why she wound up discussing detergent one afterno...

DVN: How many writers are you mentoring right now? SS: I think like 600. Don and Shea discuss how he first resorted to writing, how comments got him a job, how he found his unique voice, and the first compliment Bill Simmons gave him. From the first to graduate high school in his family to a New York Times bestseller, Serrano's story—just like his personality—is one-of-a-kind.

"What kind of globalization should we want? There are lots of different versions of it, and we have a particular version that at this moment is pissing off a lot of people—but it doesn't have to be that way." Atossa has spent most of her journalism career investigating issues of globalism, from how global elites act at a level above states to how the global poor get caught up in the system. In 201...

"I'm not that special," Washington Post national arts reporter Geoff Edgers says. "All I do is call a million people." That's how he's written unforgettable profiles on every star from Lionel Richie to David Letterman. Edgers shares his process with Don, discusses what he looks for in a potential profile subject, and tells his Bill Murray story. The two also discuss Edgers' newest project: Edge of...

After writing the Oral History of Inside Sports for The Sunday Long Read, and as he launches a new journalism archive project debuting today, Alex catches up with Don—who calls Alex "America's Curator Laureate." As for his new website, thestacksreader.com, Alex said: "I just want to have a destination where things that would ordinarily have been discarded have a place to live—does that make sense?...

"We're all a product of our path to the current moment, and my path is a little bit different," Michael says. He has worked his way up from covering exurban news to writing about the President for POLITICO. And he says that journey, which included stories about a dead sheep and a woman who disappeared inside her own home, helps him today. "My path was through small areas and rural areas in New Yor...

Washington Post columnist and four-time NYT best-selling author Sally Jenkins recounts the advice Billie Jean King gave her about dealing with sexism; shares her opinion of Lance Armstrong, Joe Paterno, and Roger Goodell; and explains why journalism is a civil religion. She and Don also discuss several pieces of advice for young writers.

Longtime friends Don and Scott discuss how Price started going by S.L., the changes they've seen in American newsrooms, and how writing requires being both the god and dog of your story. They also go personal, discussing Scott's prescient student newspaper profile of Michael Jordan when they were both students at the University of North Carolina, the articles for SI that Scott has turned into book...

Kevin Van Valkenburg is a senior writer at ESPN The Magazine and ESPN.com, where he writes primarily about football and golf. Prior to joining ESPN, he spent 11 years at the Baltimore Sun. In 2015, he was the T. Anthony Pollner Distinguished Professor at the University of Montana, where he taught a class on storytelling. He and Don discuss his start in journalism, how he faked his way through an E...

Seth Wickersham and Wright Thompson both write for ESPN The Magazine and have been discussing stories since their time together at the University of Missouri (they discussed several while guest editing The Sunday Long Read in September). Don chatted with them about how they developed their confidence, the stories that got away, and what they'd like to be remembered for—or at least Don tries to get...

Souad Mekhennet is a national security correspondent for The Washington Post and the author of the national best-selling, "I Was Told To Come Alone: My Journey Behind the Lines of Jihad." Last month, she was named the 2017 recipient of the Daniel Pearl Award. In this conversation with her friend and former colleague, Don Van Natta Jr., Mekhennet describes her 16 years covering Jihad for the Post,...

In the middle of his Twitter hiatus, two-time National Magazine Award winner Chris Jones (left) chats with Don Van Natta Jr. Jones shares behind-the-scenes details from his favorite stories—including profiles of Roger Ebert and Teller. He also explains why he's just now learning to cook and how he managed to expense both poker losses and marijuana.

It was about time The Sunday Long Read Podcast caught up with Taffy Brodesser-Akner, who extended her lead in list appearances this week. It's a longer episode, but equally jam-packed with stories and tips—and make sure to stick around for the first-ever lightning round!

Christopher Goffard, now at The Los Angeles Times, is an experienced journalist of over 20 years. Most recently, he's the reporter, writer and voice of Dirty John, a captivating series told via print and chart-topping podcast. Christopher tells Jacob why he assigns his journalism students stories of everyday people, the way he first learned about "Dirty John" Meehan, how creating a podcast was "ha...

Award-winning author Ana Menendez is called “a triple-threat” by Don in our 4th Sunday Long Read podcast—she’s been a reporter, a columnist and is now a full-time fiction writer (and, last week, Ana was guest-curator of the SLR). In their 40-minute conversation, Don and Ana discuss their shared early days at The Miami Herald and the inspiration and writing tips of a joyous, Pulitzer Prize-wining e...

Sunday Long Read producer Jacob Feldman joins Don to talk about his latest story on the NFL and discuss the podcast project.

Michael N. Graff, an award-winning writer and editor from North Carolina, has appeared four times in The Sunday Long Read, including last week when Don selected Michael’s essay “Is the Secret to Successs… Faking It?” as his Favorite of the Week. In our second SLR Pod, Don chats with Michael, who was married yesterday to Laura Houston (Congrats!), about the writing life, the difference between jour...

For nearly 30 minutes, Don chatted with Jody about how the 30 for 30 Podcasts idea was born, the critically acclaimed first 30 for 30 Podcasts episode, The Trials of Dan and Dave and whether this is the golden age of pods or we’re sitting atop a podcast bubble that’s about to burst.