As host of The Creative Nonfiction Podcast, Brendan O’Meara is no stranger to talking about the art and craft of storytelling. In this craft-focused excerpt, we’re digging into Episode 336, in which he interviewed Atavist editor Jonah Ogles and freelance writer Cassidy Randall about her work on the latest issue of The Atavist. Cassidy Randall, a freelance writer based out […]
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The Mysterious Case of a Nameless Hiker
A friendly and charming hiker was known on the trail as “Mostly Harmless.” After his body was discovered in a tent in Florida, no one could figure out who he was.
Jason Isbell’s Redemption Songs
“A decade after bottoming out and cleaning up, Jason Isbell has become the last of his kind: a guitar-playing, compulsively honest, relentlessly consistent songwriter. Oh, and he slays on Twitter too. Zach Baron goes to Isbell’s family home near Franklin, Tennessee, and finds there’s no question the four-time Grammy winner won’t answer.”
The Heart Wing
The muscle that never stops, until the very end. Is your heart a hardworking pump or a mystic miracle?
Deeper Than Pixels: A Reading List on Video Games
Five longreads on the culture and creativity that games have spawned.
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
This week, we’re sharing stories from Seema Jilani, Katy Kelleher, Carina del Valle Schorske, Martin Padgett, and Ben Lindbergh.
The Fact-Check and the Fury: A Chat With the Writers and Editor Behind The Atavist’s New Issue
In this excerpt from The Creative Nonfiction Podcast, host Brendan O’Meara talks to Leigh Baldwin and Sean Williams about co-writing “Follow the Leader.”
The State We Are In: Neither Here, There, nor in Heaven
On vaccine privilege in America and COVID-19 inequities in India.
The Women Who Built Grunge
Bands like L7 and Heavens to Betsy were instrumental to the birth of the grunge scene, but for decades were treated like novelties and sex objects. Thirty years later, it’s time to reassess their legacy.
Twitter Won’t Miss You: A Digital Detox Reading List (and Roadmap)
Maybe it’s time for an internet break… after you read this.

