The Creative Nonfiction Podcast with Brendan O'Meara Podcast
1) Episode 509: Howard Bryant Masterfully Braids History in 'Kings and Pawns'
"Characters make books. Why are these guys in opposition? And were they actually really? How can you be in opposition with someone you never met? How can you be in opposition with somebody who's essen...Show More
2) Episode 508: Motivated by Slights and Play Fighting in Our Underwear with Alison Lyn Miller
"I spent several months  trying to narrow down the cast. I had access to so many people with interesting stories. But what [my agent] said to me over and over again was, 'narrative arc, narrative arc,...Show More
3) Episode 507: 'Enshittification' Author Cory Doctorow Believes in a New, Good Internet
"Practically speaking, mostly what I'm doing is I'm  writing in a hotel room and then writing in the taxi, and then if the TSA queue is long, I might whip my laptop out and balance it on the stanchion...Show More
4) Episode 506: Alexandra Marvar and the Trough of Despair, the Wall of Regret
"I feel like many of us can relate to that, like, that's the trough of despair, right? Like, that moment where you're energetic optimism, diving in, and then, like, that's the wall of regret, where yo...Show More
5) Episode 505: Leah Sottile and Ryan Haas Talk 'Hush', Investigative Reporting, and Breaking New Trail in Their Careers
"We always were having conversations about, if we can't solve it, what then? What is this about? Why isn't it solved? And what is our job? Is the job of a journalist to solve crimes? No, it's to docum...Show More
6) Episode 504: Seth Wickersham and the Macbethian Tragedy of the American Quarterback
"You're constantly asking lean, open, neutral questions that start broad and then narrow, and you're asking more lean, open, neutral questions based on their answers. When you do that, it tells the su...Show More
Episode 504: Seth Wickersham and the Macbethian Tragedy of the American Quarterback
41:14 | Dec 19th, 2025
7) Episode 503: An Atmospheric River of Rejection with Jason Brown
"I will always go back to the well, and I will write until I die," says Jason Brown, author of Character Witness. Jason Brown is here. He is a brilliant short story writer and the author of the memoi...Show More
8) Episode 502: Christa Hillstrom Takes Pride in Her Rejections
"Take pride in your rejections. It's a tough industry for putting yourself out there. You're like, doing a ton of work up front, not knowing if anyone will be interested in it. It's very easy to feel ...Show More
9) Episode 501: Julian Brave NoiseCat Aimed for a Woven Text
"It's not actually about the questions you ask. It's about shutting up," says Julian Brave NoiseCat, author of We Survived the Night. It's episode 501 with Julian Brave NoiseCat, author of the memoir...Show More
10) Episode 500: Structure, Spec, and Panic with John McPhee
"Anything beats writing. Writing is tough," says John McPhee, staff writer for The New Yorker and author of more than thirty books of nonfiction. Hey CNFers, this is Episode 500 of The Creative Nonfi...Show More