Ta-Nehisi Coates is a senior editor at The Atlantic. His latest cover story is "The Case for Reparations."

"The writer hopes for change, but writers can't assume that their work is going to cause change."

Thanks to TinyLetter and I Am Zlatan, the international bestseller published by Random House, for sponsoring this week's episode.


Show Notes:

Direct download: Ep._97_-_Ta-Nehisi_Coates.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 1:00pm EDT

Nathaniel Rich writes for Rolling Stone, Harper's and the New York Times Magazine. His latest novel is Odds Against Tomorrow.

"I'm drawn to obsession. I think I'm an obsessive in a way, probably most writers are. It's an obsessive act to sit at a desk by yourself."

Thanks to TinyLetter and EA SPORTS FIFA WORLD CUP for sponsoring this week's episode.


Show notes:

Direct download: Ep._96_-_Nathaniel_Rich.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:43pm EDT

Wesley Morris, a Pulitzer Prize winner, covers film at Grantland.

"That's what writing about race and popular culture is for me: it's crime reporting. It's not me looking for an agenda when I go to the movies ... but I feel a moral responsibility to report a crime being committed. That's what I'm forced to do over and over again."

Thanks to this week's sponsors, Warby Parker and TinyLetter.


Show notes:

Direct download: Ep._95_-_Wesley_Morris.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:11pm EDT

Gary Smith retired last month after more than 30 years of writing for Sports Illustrated.

"We were on the Santa Monica Freeway, Ali's driving 70 miles an hour and his eyes are drifting asleep—the medication for Parkinson's would do that to him. I'm thinking, 'Oh, crap.' We're weaving between lanes, cars are honking, and I'm wondering in the passenger seat, 'Should I grab the wheel from the greatest champ of all-time?' The writer in me wants to let it go, let the crash happen just so I get a scene for the story. But the human in me was just getting scared as hell."

Thanks to TinyLetter and EA SPORTS FIFA WORLD CUP for sponsoring this week's episode.


Show notes:

Direct download: Ep._94_-_Gary_Smith.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:32pm EDT

Michael Paterniti, a correspondent for GQ, has also written for Esquire, Rolling Stone and Outside. His latest book is The Telling Room.

"I want to see it, whatever it is. If it's war, if it's suffering, if it's complete, unbridled elation, I just want to see what that looks like—I want to smell it, I want to taste it, I want to think about it, I want to be caught up in it."

Thanks to this week's sponsors: TinyLetter and Hari Kunzru's Twice Upon a Time, the new title from and Atavist Books.


Show notes:

Direct download: Ep._93_-_Michael_Paterniti.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:58pm EDT

Leslie Jamison has written for The Believer, Harper's and The New York Times. Her latest book is The Empathy Exams.

"I sort of love imagining a small army of 22-year-old men who are just like, 'Fuck that book, I wish it was never published.'"

Thanks to TinyLetter and Harry's for sponsoring this week's episode.

Show notes:

Direct download: Ep._92_-_Leslie_Jamison.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:59pm EDT

Michael Lewis has written for The New Republic, Vanity Fair and The New York Times Magazine. His latest book is Flash Boys.

"When you're telling a story, you're essentially playing the cards you're dealt. ... Sometimes the hand is very easy to play. Sometimes the hand is difficult to play. At the end, I just try to think, 'Is there anything I would have done differently?' 'Is there any trick I missed?' If I don't have the feeling that I missed something big, I feel happy about the book."

Thanks to TinyLetter and Audible for sponsoring this week's episode.

Show notes:

Direct download: Ep._91_-_Michael_Lewis.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:57pm EDT

Susan Dominus is a staff writer at the New York Times Magazine.

"A lot of reporting is really just hanging around and not going home until something interesting happens."

Thanks to TinyLetter for sponsoring this week's episode.


Show notes:

Direct download: Ep._90_-_Susan_Dominus.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 1:35pm EDT

Alice Gregory has written for n+1, GQ, The New York Times and Harper's.

"If you don't have a real story with a beginning, middle and an end, you owe it to the reader to kind of serve as their chaperone."

Thanks to TinyLetter and EA SPORTS FIFA WORLD CUP for sponsoring this week's episode.


Show notes:

Direct download: Ep._89_-_Alice_Gregory.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:05pm EDT

Sam Biddle writes for Valleywag.

"It's a lot of overgrown, entitled manchildren pulling price tags out of the ether and passing them around. Considering Silicon Valley worthy of contempt is the first premise that we work from."

Thanks to TinyLetter for sponsoring this week's episode.


Show notes:

Direct download: Ep._88_-_Sam_Biddle.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 11:54am EDT