Longform Longform
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Interviews with writers, journalists, filmmakers, and podcasters about how they do their work. Hosted by Aaron Lammer, Max Linsky, and Evan Ratliff.
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Episode 572: Derek Thompson
Derek Thompson is a staff writer for The Atlantic and host of the podcast Plain English.
“I am an inveterate dilettante. I lose interest in subjects all the time. Because what I find interesting about my job is the invitation to solve mysteries. And once you solve one, two, three mysteries in a space, then the meta-mystery of that space begins to dim. And all these other subjects—that's the new unlit space that needs the flashlight. And that's the part of the job that I love the most: that there are so many dark corners in the world. And I've just got this flashlight, and I can just shine it wherever the hell I want.”
Show notes:
@DKThomp
Thompson's Atlantic archive
00:00 Hit Makers: How to Succeed in an Age of Distraction (Penguin • 2018)
00:00 Plain English with Derek Thompson (The Ringer)
05:00 "Why Americans Suddenly Stopped Hanging Out" (The Atlantic • Feb 2024)
18:00 "The Americans Who Need Chaos" (The Atlantic • Feb 2024)
23:00 "America’s Loneliness Epidemic Comes for the Restaurant" (The Atlantic • Mar 2024)
35:00 "Stop Trying to Ask 'Smart Questions'" (The Atlantic • Jan 2023)
39:00 "The Future of Everything With Derek Thompson" (The Bill Simmons Podcast • Feb 2024)
40:00 "What Many Economists (and I) Got Wrong About This Economy" (Plain English • Mar 2024)
43:00 "How Hollywood’s Hit Formula Flopped—and What Could Come Next" (Plain English • Mar 2024)
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Episode 571: Tessa Hulls
Tessa Hulls is a writer and artist whose work has appeared in The Rumpus, The Washington Post, and The Capitol Hill Times. Her new book, a graphic memoir, is Feeding Ghosts.
“This project is the thing I have spent my entire life running from. I was incredibly determined to never touch this, either personally or professionally. … It was more an eventual act of resignation than a desire.”
Show notes:
@tessahulls
tessahulls.com
17:00 Persepolis (Marjane Satrapi • Pantheon • 2004)
19:00 richardscarry.com
32:00 The Margery Davis Boyden Wilderness Writing Residency
36:00 “Longform Podcast #144: Cheryl Strayed”
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Episode 570: Sloane Crosley
Sloane Crosley is the author of I Was Told There’d Be Cake and several other books. Her new memoir is Grief Is for People.
“You take a little sliver of yourself and you offer it up to be spun around in perpetuity in the public imagination. That is the sacrifice you make. And it makes everything just a little bit worse. So it's the opposite of catharsis, but it's worth it. It's worth it for what you get in return: a book.”
Show notes:
sloanecrosley.com
@askanyone
Longform Podcast #343: Sloane Crosley
01:00 Grief Is for People (MCD • 2024)
14:00 Heartburn (Nora Ephron • Vintage • 1996)
25:00 "Patchett: In Bad Relationships, 'There Comes A Day When You Gotta Go.'" (Fresh Air with Terry Gross • WHYY • Jan 2014)
25:00 Joan Didion on Fresh Air with Terry Gross
25:00 "Long COVID, Chronic Illness & Searching For Answers" (Fresh Air with Terry Gross • WHYY • Feb 2022)
32:00 "Obituary: Russell Perreault, V-P at Vintage Anchor, 52" (Rachel Deahl • Publishers Weekly • Jul 2019)
37:00 The Clasp (Picador • 2016)
49:00 How Did You Get This Number (Riverhead Books • 2011)
51:00 "Five O’Clock Somewhere" (Gary Indiana • Granta • Feb 2024)
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Episode 569: Lauren Markham
Lauren Markham is the author of The Far Away Brothers: Two Young Migrants and the Making of an American Life and has written for The New York Times Magazine, The Guardian, and VQR. Her new book is A Map of Future Ruins: On Borders and Belonging.
“It took me a while to figure out that this is actually a book about storytelling, about journalistic storytelling, about the kind of myths we spin culturally and politically, about history, about current events, and the role of journalism within all of that, and my role as a journalist.”
Show notes:
@LaurenMarkham_
laurenmarkham.info
Markham on Longform
01:00 The Far Away Brothers (Crown • 2018)
03:00oaklandinternational.org
28:00 How the Word Is Passed (Clint Smith • Little, Brown and Company • 2021)
38:00 “How Greece Secretly Adopted the World’s Most Brazen—and Brutal—Way of Keeping Out Refugees” (Mother Jones • March 2022)
44:00 “For Me, With Love and Squalor” (Longreads • June 2018)
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Episode 568: Zoë Schiffer
Zoë Schiffer is the managing editor for Platformer. Her new book is Extremely Hardcore: Inside Elon Musk’s Twitter.
“Being the person where it's a fireable offense to leak to you … is kind of a badge of honor.”
Show notes:
zoeschiffer.com
Schiffer's Platformer archive
Extremely Hardcore: Inside Elon Musk’s Twitter (Portfolio • 2024)
03:00 Schiffer's Verge archive
08:00 "How Twitter’s child porn problem ruined its plans for an OnlyFans competitor" (Zoë Schiffer and Casey Newton • Verge • Aug 2022)
16:00 Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon (Michael Lewis • W. W. Norton • 2023)
36:00 Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future (Ashlee Vance • Ecco • 2017)
41:00 Ask a Swole Woman (Casey Johnston)
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Episode 567: Chris Ryan
Chris Ryan is the editorial director for The Ringer, where he co-hosts The Watch and The Rewatchables.
“There is a point where there’s just too much stuff. I can’t read a 5,000-word feature, 10 blog posts, and listen to three podcasts, and then do it all again the next day. So that is the line you walk in digital publishing, whether it’s for editorial stuff or for podcasting. You have to accept the fact that there is not going to be a single person out there who listens to it all, and who can read it all, and who can watch it all. But you can imbue everything you do with a certain quality—both like a personality, characteristic quality, but also like a quality of production—that hopefully anybody who does like this kind of thing will find some value in it.”
Show notes:
@ChrisRyan77
Ryan’s Ringer archive
3:00Andy Greenwald on Longform Podcast
3:00 Ryan’s Grantland archive
05:00 Ryan’s Spin archive
05:00 Ryan’s Fader archive
05:00 Ryan’s Village Voice archive
06:00 chaunceybillups.blogspot.com
27:00 The Ringer’s Philly Special (The Ringer • 2022)
45:00 Fairway Rollin’ (The Ringer • 2017)
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Customer Reviews
I love hearing the behind-the-scene work of journalism
Half the time I listen to a longform episode, I don’t even recognize the name of the person interviewed. But within 5 min, I’m captivated by their experiences, their writing career, and totally inspired to work harder on my own reporting projects!
Mona Chalabis Episode
Came here specifically to hear Mona Chalabi ~ it’s such a meaningful, honest conversation and I really really appreciated hearing it.
MonaChalabi. Disappointed.
I think Ms Chalabi does some great work. I have followed her for several years and I am always impressed. I do wonder though. I did not see any graphics on the massacres that just occurred in Darfur. Arabs killing nearly whole Masalit villages. Not a great interview. I did not see any clever graphics on Israeli toddlers taken out of their beds in their underwear to Gaza, whose parents and grandparents are likely peace activists. No cartoons showing a raped and killed young woman having their bodies spit on and paraded around as a trophy.