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 345, in which he interviewed Atavist editor Seyward Darby and freelance writer Sarah Souli about her work on the latest issue of The Atavist. Writing long […]
creative nonfiction
Architecture and Blackberries: The Art of Longform Narratives
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 340, in which he interviewed Atavist editor Jonah Ogles and freelance writer J.B. MacKinnon about his work on the latest issue of The Atavist. The seduction […]
Wearing All the Hats: A Chat with the Writer and Editor Behind The Atavist’s New Issue
In this excerpt from The Creative Nonfiction Podcast, host Brendan O’Meara talks to Seyward Darby about “Fault Lines,” her Atavist writing debut.
My Grandmother’s Dark Secret
The music emanating from a storefront church in Brooklyn was a death knell: Once my grandmother heard it, her childhood was over.
‘Every Single Person Migrating Has a Story’: Caitlin Dwyer on the Emotional Underlayers of Family Separation
The writer describes her process of reporting and shaping her recent essay, “The State of Waiting,” which explores love in the shadow of war and immigration policy.
Longreads Best of 2020: Essays
A small sampling of standout essays published this year.
Secret Museums
Struggling with the world’s, and his own, homophobia, one queer young man searches for intimacy in the world of internet porn.
“What Do I Know To Be True?”: Emma Copley Eisenberg on Truth in Nonfiction, Writing Trauma, and The Dead Girl Newsroom
“We were interested in dead girls, but so interested in them that we were trying to do the opposite of what had been done before.”
Stumbling Into Joy
The electric bass chose her, but it took 44 years to heed the call.
California Burning
A year after the Camp Fire, Tessa Love contemplates home, California’s undoing, and what it means to belong.