The Sunday Long Read Podcast

In a new Sunday Long Read podcast episode, Alana Newhouse, the editor-in-chief of Tablet Magazine, unpacks one of the magazine’s latest cover stories: a piece about the horrors of factory farming in the U.S., specifically as it relates to pig farms. Newhouse unflinchingly argues in a corresponding letter from the editor that Americans should stop eating industrially produced meat. “We are consuming slop, and producing slop,” she argues. “The two are related.” In this in-depth Q&A, Newhouse chats about the origin and purpose of Tablet Magazine, an online outlet she founded in 2009 to serve as “a Jewish magazine about the world.” Since then, the world has changed, and Tablet has changed with it, Newhouse says. The writer and editor-in-chief also digs into the role of opinion writing in the traditional media landscape, how she seeks to “challenge” public discourse, and Tablet’s recent move to print after an unexpected push from younger readers. Show notes : 0:00 : American Treif (Tablet Magazine) 0:00 : Ugly In, Ugly Out (Tablet Magazine) 0:00 : Alana Newhouse author page (Tablet Magazine) 37:35 : The Peace Hotel (Tablet Magazine) Subscribe to The Sunday Long Read here to get our free weekly newsletter or become a paid member for only $5/month to receive our weekly edition a day early, as well as special editions of the newsletter. This episode was hosted by Amanda Ulrich and produced by Matthew Whitehurst. The Sunday Long Read Podcast is executive produced by Étienne Lajoie.

In a new Q&A with The Sunday Long Read, journalist Bradley Hope chats about his recent story for WIRED: a deep dive into the deadly sinking of the superyacht Bayesian, which sank off the coast of Italy during a storm last year, killing seven people— including the vessel’s billionaire owner, Michael Lynch. The yacht’s tragic, and initially unexplained, sinking immediately became fodder for conspiracy theorists. This year, Hope painstakingly unraveled the full story for WIRED. In a wide-ranging interview with The SLR, Hope gives behind-the-scenes details about the reporting of that story, and also weighs in on the value of writing across different mediums, the pros and cons of AI, and his hope for the future of narrative writing. Hope is a journalist, a bestselling author and a Pulitzer Prize finalist. He is also the co-founder of the production company Brazen. This episode was hosted by Amanda Ulrich and produced by Matthew Whitehurst. The Sunday Long Read Podcast is executive produced by Étienne Lajoie.

Sunday Long Read co-founder Jacob Feldman talks with ProPublica’s Max Blau in a wide-ranging conversation about his piece “I Don’t Want to Die”: Needing Mental Health Care, He Got Trapped in His Insurer’s Ghost Network, the art of combining investigative and feature reporting and what it was like to see his story adapted for a stage performance. This episode was recorded in July live at the University of Georgia, in partnership with the school’s Low-Residency MFA in Narrative Nonfiction. This episode was hosted by Jacob Feldman and produced by Matthew Whitehurst. The Sunday Long Read Podcast is executive produced by Étienne Lajoie. This episode would not have been possible without the help and support of Monimala Basu, the director of the MFA program at the University of Georgia. Show notes : 2:18 : ProPublica author page 2:20 : “I Don’t Want to Die”: Needing Mental Health Care, He Got Trapped in His Insurer’s Ghost Network (ProPublica) 3:08 : Creative Loafing author page; Atlanta Magazine author page; CNN author page 3:15 : Max Blau’s personal website 3:38 : About the Local Reporting Network (ProPublica) 4:10 : Sunken Costs (ProPublica) 6:25 : An Unbelievable Story of Rape (ProPublica & The Marshall Project) 6:48 : T. Christian Miller’s ProPublica author page 6:50 : Ken Armstrong’s Marshall Project author page 6:50 : Lizzie Presser’s ProPublica author page 6:51 : Ava Kofman’s ProPublica author page 18:45 : Jason Molina’s long dark blues (Chicago Reader) 59:00 : How Jim White Helped His Bluebird Spread Her Wings (Sunday Long Read)

The Sunday Long Read chats with Bloomberg’s Patrick Clark about one of his latest articles: a deep dive into the hotel chain Hampton Inn, and why its reputation as being "rigorously OK” has led, unexpectedly, to world domination. Read Patrick's story : American Mid: Hampton Inn’s Good-Enough Formula for World Domination As Americans take some of their last summer vacations this Labor Day weekend, Clark digs into everything from Hampton Inn’s “good-enough” business formula, to the perceived value of a free hotel breakfast, to the reporting process when writing about the country’s largest hotel chain. Clark covers housing, hotels and real estate for Bloomberg. This episode of The Sunday Long Read Podcast was hosted by Amanda Ulrich and produced by Justin Greenawald. The Sunday Long Read Podcast is executive produced by Étienne Lajoie.

As summer officially kicks off, Behind the Story host Amanda Ulrich chats with fellow journalist Rowan Jacobsen about his in-depth reporting on sunlight and sun exposure—and its many benefits you may not know about. Rowan gives his take on when you should wear sunscreen, how to write a narrative-driven science story, and whether or not moving to a sunny place may just be the key to longevity. Rowan is a journalist and author who writes about science and nature for many publications, including most recently for Scientific American. He is a current media fellow with Nova Institute for Health. 8:24 Is Sunscreen the New Margarine? (Outside) 8:40 Against Sunscreen Absolutism (The Atlantic) 9:00 Australia’s sun safety guidelines updated to take account of diverse skin types (The Guardian) 35:44 An Ocean Plastics Field Trip for Corporate Executives (Outside) 35:47 Truffle Hound (Bloomsbury Publishing)

Behind the Story host and journalist Amanda Ulrich chats with The Washington Post’s Geoff Edgers about everything music and pop culture — from Edgers’ recent story about a group of diehard Kinks fans, to his approach to interviewing celebrities like Tiffany Haddish and the late Norm Macdonald. His biggest reporting tips? Don’t be afraid to reach out to big names for an interview (repeatedly) and then spend as much time with them as possible. Show notes : 18:30 There Is No Safe Word (Vulture) 20:15 My road trip with Sinéad O’Connor (The Washington Post) 20:20 Roseanne Barr just can’t shut up (The Washington Post) 21:00 Q&A with Pamela Adlon: ‘Better Things,’ using material from her family for the show and Warren Zevon’s ‘Steady Rain’ (The Washington Post) 22:30 Tiffany Haddish wants it all (The Washington Post) 24:35 Rock forgot one of its wildest front men. He’s got a story to tell. (The Washington Post) 26:20 He spent his life building a $1 million stereo. The real cost was unfathomable. (The Washington Post) 30:47 Edge of Fame (WBUR) 32:40 Dennis Quaid and the never-ending comeback (The Washington Post) 36:15 Hanging out with Norm Macdonald is the best way to watch a boring Super Bowl (The Washington Post) 41:45 I went on a 15-hour road trip with Fabio. Here's what we talked about. (The Washington Post) 42:00 Fifteen hours with Fabio (The Washington Post) This episode of The Sunday Long Read Podcast was hosted by Amanda Ulrich and produced by Matthew Whitehurst. The Sunday Long Read Podcast is executive produced by Étienne Lajoie.

SLR podcast host and writer Amanda Ulrich talks with fellow journalist Rhana Natour about her National Magazine Award-winning story, "Coming to America." That piece, written for The Atavist Magazine last year, tells the story of one teenager from Gaza: 14-year-old Layan Albaz, who lost both of her legs in an Israeli airstrike and traveled to the United States for medical treatment. This episode of The Sunday Long Read Podcast was hosted by Amanda Ulrich and produced by Matthew Whitehurst. The Sunday Long Read Podcast is executive produced by Étienne Lajoie.

Host and journalist Amanda Ulrich chats with fellow writer Natalia Galicza of Deseret Magazine about her reporting on solitary confinement, the future of long-form journalism, and Natalia's surprise at being selected as a finalist for a National Magazine Award. Read Natalia’s Deseret Magazine story : What’s the future of solitary confinement? This episode of The Sunday Long Read Podcast was hosted by Amanda Ulrich and produced by Matthew Whitehurst. The Sunday Long Read Podcast is executive produced by Étienne Lajoie.

In a new piece for Vanity Fair, author and presidential historian James Robenalt, who has written about commanders in chief from Warren G. Harding to Donald J. Trump, uncovers the full story of JFK and Jackie’s surprising and little-known home video — and what it might say about the late president’s state of mind in his final months. The SLR’s Amanda Ulrich talks to Robenalt about the story, his interest for the former president, and political assassination attempts. Read James’ piece : Why JFK Staged His Own Murder in a James Bond–Inspired Spy Film—2 Months Before His Assassination This episode of The Sunday Long Read Podcast was hosted by Amanda Ulrich and produced by Matthew Whitehurst. The Sunday Long Read Podcast is executive produced by Étienne Lajoie.

The first time Caity Weaver, a staff writer at The New York Times Magazine, heard about the legend of Zozobra, she stumbled upon it almost by accident. Back in 2018, Weaver and her now-husband happened to be visiting Santa Fe, New Mexico, on the sole night of the year when one of the country’s most unique celebrations was taking place. In her latest piece, Weaver delves into the broader idea of Zozobra, a gigantic effigy made of wood and wire and cloth burned down as part of a festival. The piece begs one evergreen question: Could this quirky annual rite be Santa Fe’s unexpected “secret to happiness”? Read Caity’s piece : One City’s Secret to Happiness: The Annual Burning of a 50-Foot Effigy This episode of The Sunday Long Read Podcast was hosted by Amanda Ulrich and produced by Matthew Whitehurst. The Sunday Long Read Podcast is executive produced by Étienne Lajoie.

This holiday season, we are rereleasing some of our favorite Sunday Long Read Podcast episodes of all time. A few years ago, SLR cofounder Don Van Natta Jr. spoke to his friends and colleagues, Wright Thompson and Seth Wickersham about their careers, finding your voice in writing and share some fun stories : - Awakening The Giant (ESPN The Magazine, 2014) - The trouble with Johnny (ESPN The Magazine, 2013) - Michael Jordan Has Not Left The Building (ESPN The Magazine, 2013) - Spygate to Deflategate: Inside what split the NFL and Patriots apart (ESPN, 2015) This episode of The Sunday Long Read Podcast was produced by Matthew Whitehurst. The Sunday Long Read Podcast is executive produced by Étienne Lajoie.

This holiday season, we are rereleasing some of our favorite Sunday Long Read Podcast episodes of all time. Around five years ago, SLR cofounder Jacob Feldman spoke to journalist Jeanne Marie Laskas about her GQ profile of then Presidential candidate Joe Biden, political writing and story ideas. Show notes : To Obama: With Love, Joy, Anger, and Hope Have You Heard the One About President Joe Biden? Bennet Omalu, Concussions, and the NFL: How One Doctor Changed Football Forever Inside the Federal Bureau Of Way Too Many Guns Oops, You Just Hired the Wrong Hitman This episode of The Sunday Long Read Podcast was produced by Matthew Whitehurst. The Sunday Long Read Podcast is executive produced by Étienne Lajoie.

In one of her latest longform articles for ProPublica, reporter Lizzie Presser tells the story of teenagers caught on opposite sides of the drug trade: those who are selling opioids and those who are using them. In an interview with SLR Contributor Amanda Ulrich, Presser talks about her writing and research process and shares her personal reflections on the drug trade. This episode of The Sunday Long Read Podcast was produced by Amanda Ulrich and Matthew Whitehurst. The Sunday Long Read Podcast is executive produced by Étienne Lajoie.

Why do steakhouses have such a stranglehold on Republicans in Washington D.C.? Washingtonian's Jessica Sidman joined one of the party members to find out and ended up having “the most Washington night of my entire life in Washington.” Ahead of Election Day, SLR Contributor Amanda Ulrich spoke to Sidman about her reporting, getting to the bottom of the fascinating connections between parties, food preferences, messaging, and identity on the Hill. They also discuss why President Biden and his wife Jill turned heads for their order during a recent visit to an Italian restaurant. Read Jessica's piece : What’s the Deal With Republicans and Steakhouses? This episode of The Sunday Long Read Podcast was produced by Amanda Ulrich and Matthew Whitehurst. The Sunday Long Read Podcast is executive produced by Étienne Lajoie.

In March, after years of work, producer Naomi Despres and screenwriter John Gatins released “Little Wing,” the story of a young pigeon racer, first told by Susan Orlean, in The New Yorker. In this episode of The Sunday Long Read Podcast, Despres and Gatins explain the trials and tribulations of getting an adaptation like this one out into the world and how much loyalty is owed to the authors of the original tale. Naomi Despres is the producer of the movies “Little Wing,” starring Brooklynn Prince and Brian Cox, “Kill the Messenger,” and others. John Gatins wrote “Little Wing,” as well as “Flight,” featuring Denzel Washington, and “Coach Carter.”

Over the last few years, Texas Monthly has had a booming success on the big and small screen, turning impeccable stories into films and TV series. In an interview with The Sunday Long Read’s Jacob Feldman, Texas Monthly’s Executive Producer for TV, films and podcasts, Megan Creydt, explains how it all happened.

A self-described “Star War Kid” and “nerd,” Marc Bernardin left journalism a few years ago to follow his dream: becoming a television writer. Bernardin explains to host Jacob Feldman why nerd culture took over entertainment, and what it was like making the jump from magazine newsroom to Hollywood writers’ room. Marc Bernardin is a writer, director, and producer on shows such as Picard, Carnival Row and The Continental. He has also won a Writers Guild Award for his work on the show Castle Rock. Bernardin has also written multiple comic books and is the co-host, with Kevin Smith, of the podcast Fat Man Beyond.

In a span of only three years, two of Jessica Pressler’s New York Magazine stories ended up on screen, a journey that involved a playdate with Julia Stiles in Queens. In an interview with Don Van Natta Jr., Pressler recounts her experience writing the original stories and the oddness of seeing herself played in a film twice. Jessica Pressler is a contributor to New York Magazine. Her 2015 piece “The Hustlers at Scores,” which became the movie “Hustlers,” starring Jennifer Lopez, was nominated for a National Magazine Award. Pressler is a native of Marblehead, Massachusetts.

Edith Zimmerman rocketed to media stardom early in her career. Her editing of the influential and hilarious website The Hairpin got her a place on Forbes’ 30 under 30—at only twenty-eight, she was a “much sought after writer,” noted the magazine. Zimmerman hasn’t lost an ounce of her humor in the years since, but she has slowly rediscovered herself. In the last episode of Take a Joke, Zimmerman and host Don Van Natta Jr. share their respective experiences stopping drinking, reminisce about the glory days of Internet writing and chat about Zimmerman’s cartooning.

Award-winning radio reporter Matt Shearer is making Boston’s WBZ station—and by extension, local journalism—cool again. The thirty-six-year-old TikTok star’s success has breathed new life into the industry. In a wide-ranging conversation with host Jacob Feldman, Shearer shares his path to social media stardom. In the third episode of “Take a Joke,” an SLR series on the mixing of humor and reporting, we got deep into the process of producing short-form and talk about why the Massachusetts stereotype is alive and well. Take a Joke is sponsored by Funny Girls, a program from The Harnisch Foundation that uses improv exercises to help third through eighth graders to develop their leadership skills.

Dina Gusovsky was an award-winning investigative reporter before she put that career aside to pursue comedy in 2016, joining Late Night with Seth Meyers. Not because she wanted to move away from the news, but the opposite—she saw comedians doing deeper dives than journalists. In the second episode of “Take a Joke,” an SLR series on the mixing of humor and reporting, Jacob Feldman talked to Gusovsky about that decision and the adjustments she had to make in her new role. Gusovsky also discussed how her personal back story—her family fled Soviet Russia when she was a child—has influenced the perspective she brings to the show, to comedy, and to her stories. Take a Joke is sponsored by Funny Girls, a program from The Harnisch Foundation that helps third through eighth graders to develop their leadership skills.

Welcome to the first episode of Take a Joke, a Sunday Long Read podcast series on the captivating world of humor. Our first guest, Maureen Dowd, has been thorn in the side of American politicians for decades. In her conversation with host Don Van Natta Jr., she explains where her sense of humor comes from and how the subjects of her stories have taken it. Take a Joke is sponsored by Funny Girls, a program from The Harnisch Foundation that helps third through eighth graders as they figure out all the changes they’re navigating by using improv exercises.

Welcome back to The Art of Remembering, a Sunday Long Read podcast series on the fascinating world of obituaries. Our fourth guest is magazine writer and author Garrett Graff. In early 2023, the prolific journalist was tasked with one of the toughest assignments of his career: writing the obituary of his friend, New York Times editor and reporter Blake Hounshell. In a conversation with Don Van Natta Jr., Graff describes his experience working on this emotional piece in a short amount of time. The Art of Remembering is sponsored by our friends at Air Mail, a weekly newsletter from former Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter and Alessandra Stanley, formerly of The New York Times.

Welcome back to The Art of Remembering, a Sunday Long Read podcast series on the fascinating world of obituaries. Our third guest, James Hagerty, is the only fulltime obituary writer at The Wall Street Journal, where he has worked for nearly 40 years. He's also written a book, Yours Truly, on the value of telling your own story. He and Don discuss the value of humor in the face of grief and how thinking about what your own obituary will say could change your life.

Welcome back to The Art of Remembering, a Sunday Long Read podcast series on the fascinating world of obituaries. Our second guest, Kathleen McElroy, is a journalism professor at The University of Texas at Austin after spending nearly 30 years in the industry, including serving as Associate Managing Editor at The New York Times. Her 2013 article in the Journal of Black Studies focused particularly on obituaries, and the way they shape how civil rights leaders—and the entire movement—are remembered (or misremembered). The Art of Remembering is sponsored by our friends at Air Mail, the sophisticated digital weekly dispatch from Graydon Carter and Alessandra Stanley

Welcome to the first episode of The Art of Remembering, a Sunday Long Read podcast series on the fascinating world of obituaries. Our first guest, Margalit Fox, is a long-time obituaries writer whose brilliant articles still grace the pages of The New York Times five years after her retirement. Margalit dissects the ins and outs of the work, delivers memorable lines, and discusses some of her favorite obits with Don. The Art of Remembering is sponsored by our friends at Air Mail, a weekly newsletter from former Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter and Alessandra Stanley, formerly of The New York Times.

Welcome back to the long-dormant Sunday Long Read podcast! We're reviving our audio presence with a discussion between Don and Emily Kaplan, who wrote a piece copublished this week by the SLR and Pipe Wrench Magazine. It's about Mormons, Mexico, and the malleable nature of truth (among many other things). You can find it on sundaylongread.com and pipewrenchmag.com, where it is the centerpiece of their "road trip" issue. The SLR pod will return in 2023! We encourage you to stay tuned for more conversations about writing, reporting, and storytelling. If there are guests you'd like us to talk to, you can reach out to [email protected] and if you're a writer who'd like to work with us, you can reach out to [email protected].

Tim Urban is a popular blogger and the co-founder of “Wait But Why,” a site that discusses a wide variety of topics including picking the right career path, SpaceX rockets, and love. His most recent mammoth work is “The Story of Us,” a re-tracing of how we got to this political moment.

Caity Weaver is a favorite of the Sunday Long Read, appearing in multiple newsletters every year, always giving us thoughtful, clever, and enjoyable stories to read. This week, the New York Times features writer joins Jacob to talk about how she interviews celebrities, to outline how she interacts with editors, and to perform a real-time dive into her search history on the Oxford English Dictionary. Along the way she provides a few tips for writers and talks about how she discovers new stories. Due to some technical difficulties, we had some trouble with the audio quality of our interview with Caity. So if you'd prefer to read this conversation instead of listening to it, we've published a transcript of this episode on our website, sundaylongread.com.

There are few couples like Deborah and James Fallows, who have spent more than half a decade talking to people and visiting communities across America to produce "Our Towns," a New York Times bestseller, published last year, and an online series for The Atlantic. They're some of the smartest, most diligent people reporting on the state of the country today and they joined Jacob for a two-in-one SLR podcast to discuss their distinct reporting styles, the power of positive reporting, and the lessons they've learned from their travels.

Charles Duhigg is a 2013 Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, the author of The Power of Habit, and a magazine writer who most recently published an in-depth look at Amazon's world-eating growth for The New Yorker. “The first question I might ask is, ‘I’m really sorry, I don’t know enough to know what question to ask you. What do you think is the most interesting thing I could ask you about x?’ It catches them off guard ... and they always come up with some suggested question that never would have occurred to me — because they know their own brain better than I could ever know it by asking them questions to get at it.” Jacob and Charles discuss how every corporate job at Amazon is really the same, how longform and books allow a conversation around a subject to linger, and reporting style and tips for podcasts, print and books — including using LinkedIn to find sources and stories. Charles can be found on Twitter @cduhigg and emailed at [email protected] (he promises to get back to anyone who reaches out). [0:57] Is Amazon Unstoppable? (New Yorker, 10.10.19) [1:09] Did Uber Steal Google’s Intellectual Property? (New Yorker, 10.15.18) [9:52] The iEconomy (New York Times, 2012) [10:41] Covering the Cops (New Yorker, 2.9.86) [14:31] Amazon’s Next-Day Delivery Has Brought Chaos And Carnage To America’s Streets — But The World’s Biggest Retailer Has A System To Escape The Blame (BuzzFeed News, 8.31.19) [14:32] His Mother Was Killed by a Van Making Amazon Deliveries. Here’s the Letter He Wrote to Jeff Bezos. (ProPublica, 9.5.19) [14:40] Amazon Has Ceded Control of Its Site. The Result: Thousands of Banned, Unsafe or Mislabeled Products (Wall Street Journal, 8.23.19) [14:50] Jeff Bezos’s Master Plan (The Atlantic, 10.10.19) [16:39] “On the Clock: What Low-Wage Work Did to Me and How It Drives America Insane” (Little, Brown and Company, 2019) [18:23] Emily Guendelsberger’s Twitter thread (10.18.19) [23:01] “The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business” (Random House, 2012 [23:01] “Smarter Faster Better: The Secrets of Being Productive in Life and Business” (Random House, 2016) [28:58] “How To!” Podcast (Slate, 2019) [51:30] Zuckerberg: Standing For Voice and Free Expression (Washington Post, 10.17.19)

"I kind of think of myself as a nature writer disguised as a food writer. Food is a great way to write about plants and animals because everyone has a built-in interest, " Rowan Jacobsen is an award-winning author who writes about food, sustainability, and the environment. Jacob and Rowan discuss how the latter delved into the world of food writing and some of his work including "Is Sunscreen The New Margarine?" for Outside, which became the most popular article in their website's history. [1:09] How does one become a food writer? [4:41] Rowan on "Is Sunscreen The New Margarine" [8:17] On Rowan equating lack of sun to smoking [12:25] Rowan on "What Happens When the World’s Top Plastics Executives and Environmentalists Go Snorkeling Together in the Atlantic Garbage Patch?" [21:40] Rowan on Alt Meat Is Turning Cattle into Stranded Assets [28:38] On reading content that doesn’t take into account certain factors that endanger the environment [32:09] On not reading any fiction

"If you don’t want to tell me something it makes me very interested in what it is.” Jessica Pressler is a staff writer at New York magazine and joins Jacob this week to talk interesting stories, screen adaptations, and empathy. Her article "The Hustlers at Scores," is the basis for the new movie "Hustlers," and Jessica discusses the unique experiences of having a story adapted for the screen and being visited in your own home by a movie star assigned to portray you (Hello, Julia Stiles!).

Jessica Contrera covers a wide range of topics as a narrative reporter for the Washington Post and in this week's podcast she chats with Don about her happiest (and saddest) stories, taking care of her mental health while covering traumatic events, and the positive influence a good editor has on a young reporter. Jessica has been featured several times in the Sunday Long Read newsletter and the stories of hers that we've highlighted include a deep dive about sexting teenagers, a piece about the ongoing recovery of mass shooting victims, and a delightful tale about one particularly controversial dog park.

The best-selling author, GQ correspondent, and National Magazine Award Finalist is our latest guest. Laskas discusses her books and articles including To Obama: With Love, Joy, Anger, and Hope; her New York Times Magazine article "The Mailroom;" and her GQ article "Game Brain," which inspired the movie "Concussion." [0:49] Jeanne Marie on her book tour for “To Obama: With Love, Joy, Anger, and Hope” [1:54] How she came up with the idea for the book, based off “Ten Letters A Day: To Obama With Love, and Hate, and Desperation” for New York Times Magazine [8:07] Jeanne Marie on Joe Biden: The Most Misunderstood Man in Washington for GQ [18:32] Writing Bennet Omalu, Concussions, and the NFL: How One Doctor Changed Football Forever [26:50] Jeanne Marie on her writing craft, characters, and narrative arc/Inside the Federal Bureau of Way Too Many Guns [38:43] Jeanne Marie on advising students Produced by Julian McKenzie

Will Leitch founded Deadspin nearly 14 years ago. Since 2008, Leitch has written and worked outside of the site, most recently as a contributing editor at New York Magazine, a national correspondent for MLB, and the host of “The Will Leitch Show” on Sports Illustrated TV. “…During the years I actively ran [Deadspin] — now more than a decade in the past — I was ostensibly in charge of figuring out what was coming next on the sports internet; I was the supposed leader of the blog-barbarians at the gate, all those bulls (and we were all bulls) running roughshod over the Traditional Sports Media…” Don and Will discuss how Blacktable.com led to Deadspin.com, the Deadspin of today, Will's writing of today, and revisit the infamous and “rather festive” 2008 Costas NOW (HBO) discussion where Buzz Bissinger, the author of “Friday Night Lights,” berated Will as being “…sort of like Jimmy Olsen on Percocet," and the sports blogosphere of the early aughts being “dedicated to cruelty … journalistic dishonesty, and … speed.” They’ve both come around since then. Will lives in Athens, GA, has written four books (with a fifth on the way), and can be found on Twitter @williamfleitch.

Anne Helen Petersen, although she's a superb culture writer for BuzzFeed News, still gets a little nauseous at the prospect of talking to people for her stories. She talks about that and more with Jacob on this week's episode, where they touch on reporting attire, Beto O'Rourke, and Anne's viral story on burnout. Anne was an academic before becoming a reporter on the fly and has adjusted to sharing her work in different ways, including in her newsletter, "the collected ahp."

Gideon Lewis-Kraus is a writer at large for the New York Times Magazine, a contributing writer at WIRED, and a contributing editor at Harper’s. He’s the author of a travel memoir called A Sense of Direction, and he teaches nonfiction in the Graduate Writing Program at Columbia. Here, he talks with Jacob about ideal story length (100 pages, anyone?), why it took months to work out the structure of his latest NYT Magazine piece, how he uses detail, and more.

"The clock doesn't run out until the very end," says Tommy Tomlinson, author of the new book "The Elephant in the Room: One fat man's quest to Get Smaller in a Growing America." Tommy talks about his book, his weight, and more with Don on this week's episode, which ranges from questions about emotional intelligence to the speed of Herschel Walker. Tommy, a 23-year veteran of the Charlotte Observer, a Pulitzer Prize finalist, and the host of his own podcast, has plenty of stories to tell and brings his trademark thoughtfulness to this week's episode.

If you worked in media in New York in the mid 2000s, you read the Fishbowl on MediaBistro. Our podcast guest today is the writer of that indispensable, gossipy blog, Rachel Sklar. We’ll track her unconventional path from Mediabistro to Mediaite and Huffington Post, then on to co-found The Li.st, a network and visibility platform for professional women. Now she’s at work on a newsletter called The Luckiest.

Fresh off his guest-editing turn, BuzzFeed News editor-in-chief Ben Smith chatted with Don about how the term "Ben Smith-ing" came into being, why he moved from Politico to BuzzFeed, and the thought process behind publishing the controversial Trump-Russia dossier. They also discussed the journalism industry more broadly, from the blogging heyday to the current environment. "I read a lot of long articles but it’s in spite of the fact they’re long," Ben says.

“It seemed like everyone knew what to think but me.” Elaina Plott landed not one but two stories in the Sunday Long Read newsletter last week. The first was a cover story for Pacific Standard magazine about the residents of Tangier Island, Virginia, and their unique relationship with God, Trump, and climate change, which scientists say is likely to wipe their island from the map within the next 25 years. Her second story was a personal reflection on gun violence for The Atlantic, where she is a staff writer. In this week's episode, Elaina and Jacob discuss the details of both stories, the intersections of personal and political discourse, the way Elaina (an Alabaman who went to Yale and works in D.C.) approaches her work, and more. [1:35]: The Country's First Climate Change Casualties -- Pacific Standard [18:00]: Bullet in My Arm -- The Atlantic [28:20]: A Love Letter to the Upper West Side essay/A Teenage Ann Coulter Fangirl essay [43:20]: Elaina breaks news on Scott Pruitt -- The Atlantic

“There are two ways I view toughness and the virtue of it.” BuzzFeed News reporter Albert Samaha has a new book out about a young football team in a changing inner city. But clearly it’s about so much more than that, too. As for what he thinks will happen to America’s most popular sport, Samaha says, “Part of the question is what replaces it.” He also discussed what it’s like working at BuzzFeed, shared how he’s learned to grab attention online, and announced the topic of his next book. [1:00] The Sunday Long Read with Albert Samaha [1:30] Never Ran, Never Will [18:00] Albert’s magazine story about the Mo Better Jaguars [22:00] Jacob’s story on baseball in Liberty City [23:00] There Are No Children Here [41:45] Can A School Ban Its Students From Kneeling During The National Anthem? [56:30] Fatal Errors [1:05:00] Looking for Right and Wrong In the Philippines

Maria Bustillos is the current editor in chief of Popula, an alternative news and culture magazine that recently launched on the blockchain-based Civil platform. In this week's episode, Don and Maria walk through one of Popula's first pieces published, her 20,000-word interview with the late Anthony Bourdain — “he spent two and a half hours with me in the comfy Irish bar, blabbing about everything under the sun ... And nobody bothered us in all that time, it was like there was a force field around him.” — as well as blockchain-based journalism — “it’s obvious why [blockchain] recordkeeping is valuable for journalism: it allows us to maintain archives that can’t be censored or altered after the fact. We can amend previous records only through addenda, in other words: not through erasure. This is the first benefit of blockchain technology to the free press, and this benefit alone makes it worth moving our news media into blockchain-based publishing systems.” Maria's work has previously appeared in The New Yorker, The Awl, The New York Times, Harper’s and The Guardian. This week’s episode includes explicit language.

Jo Piazza is a journalist, podcaster, author of fiction and nonfiction books, and writer of personal essays. Her latest book—her eighth—is a novel called Charlotte Walsh Likes to Win, and it’s a fascinating look at what it takes for a woman to run for national office. She talks with Don about how she learned to be a good reporter covering celebrities, how her novel is influencing voters, and how the book might have been different if Hillary Clinton had won.

Through a mixture of humorous tales and handy insights, Uproxx editor-in-chief Brett Michael Dykes explains to Don how he turned a few viral posts on a personal blog into a series of jobs in digital media. He also discusses the book that inspired him to write, where he gets his best thinking done, as well as why he goes by The Cajun Boy online.

Glynnis MacNicol wisely says about writing that "not telling the truth leads to bad writing." She's spot on about that and quite a few other things in her new book, "No One Tells You This," which she discusses with Don on this week's episode. The two talk about her 40th birthday, solo travel, and how Glynnis once ended up eating steak for breakfast. Her book is a memoir about being 40, single, and childless, and although her stomach turns slightly at the phrase "deeply personal," Glynnis has received lots of praise for her book's honesty and clarity, which comes across in this week's episode.

A reporter's reporter, Sy Hersh characterizes his work this way: "I'm constantly walking into editors’ offices and throwing a dead rat full of lice on their desk. Maybe he’s still alive and moving.” Hear his unfiltered thoughts on his career and journalism, and check out Hersh's memoir, Reporter. Subscribe to the podcast here if you haven't already.

Amy Chozick moved to New York after college with nothing but a set of clips from her college newspaper and now, 17 years later, is The New York Times bestselling author of the campaign memoir "Chasing Hillary." In this week's episode, Don (the co-author of a 2007 Clinton book with Jeff Gerth) chats with Amy, a Times reporter, about Hillary Clinton, and the pair trade war stories about the blowback the Clinton camp has dished out to journalists who write unauthorized books about Clinton. They also evaluate the media's approach to the 2016 election and talk about Hillary's press team, a notorious group Amy refers to as "The Guys."

Steve Almond says of writing: “The idea is that you are trying to show the reader somebody whose life is in disequilibrium and who is struggling with some universal bewilderment.” His newest book, Bad Stories: What the Hell Just Happened to our Country, is out now. It’s his tenth. He has also published more than 150 short stories and is the co-host of the popular Dear Sugars podcast. He and Don discuss the value of good editing, the apprenticeship a young writer should undergo, and much more.