Podcasts about beautiful forevers

Find out what data can and cannot tell us about modern India - from the way we eat, work, pray, and marry! Join Tara and Michelle in conversation with Rukmini S , the author of ‘Whole Numbers and Half Truths', a book which uses data to decode and demystify the private, but social lives and habits of modern Indians. What does an independent data journalist do? How can numbers and data be used to tell a story? How to have conversations about sensitive issues as a journalist and writer? Tune in to find out! Books mentioned in the episode:•Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo•Raag Darbari by Shrilal Shuklal •A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth•Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh Khan by Shayana Bhattacharya •Planning Democracy: Modern India's Quest for Development by Nikhil Menon•India Moving: A History of Migration by Chinmay Tumbe •Age of Pandemics (1817-1920) by Chinmay Tumbe•Ants Among Elephants by Sujatha Gidla•Lady Doctors: The Untold Stories of India's First Women Doctors by Kavita RaoProduced by Aishwarya JavalgekarSound edit by Kshitij JadhavJoin The Bound Publishing Course, a comprehensive 3-month certified course to:- Get your dream job with a highly curated recruitment drive!- Learn from the most successful experts.- Understand all aspects of publishing and choose your career track.Apply now: https://www.boundindia.com/the-bound-publishing-course/‘Books and Beyond with Bound' is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India's finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

Turns out Russian mercenaries stand ready to troll journalists and produce big-budget action movies in war-torn African countries. Neil Munshi, West Africa Editor now for Bloomberg, went to the Central African Republic to report on that mercenary group, while writing an award-winning series of stories seeking to explain the conflicts raging in most of the countries in the region.  Countries featured: Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Mali, India, USA, Nepal Publications featured: GQ, Times of India, GQ India, Financial Times, Bloomberg   Here are links to some of the things we talked about: Neil's award winning series on West Africa (free to read) - https://bit.ly/3pdXsAx His story about a film glorifying mercenaries - https://on.ft.com/3phIfOJ F1 Drive to Survive doc series trailer - https://bit.ly/3Poug4q Zikoko's NairaLife - https://bit.ly/3Qjq07s The Journalist and the Murderer - https://bit.ly/3QuHIVS What It's Like to Fight a Megafire in New Yorker - https://bit.ly/3dsN84S Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo - https://bit.ly/3QrOiwi   Follow us on Twitter @foreignpod or on Facebook at facebook.com/foreignpod Music: LoveChances (makaih.com) by Makaih Beats From: freemusicarchive.org CC BY NC

Jane Friedman joins Let's Talk Memoir for a conversation about the most common craft issues she sees in memoir manuscripts, what writers often misunderstand about the industry, The Big Five, how to write memoir query letters, ways the publishing landscape has changed for memoirs, and so much more in this do-not-miss episode.   Also in this episode: -the lowdown on platform -protecting identities in memoir -Jane Friedman's why   Books mentioned in this episode: Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt Wild by Cheryl Strayed Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo Swing by Ashleigh Renard   Links to articles mentioned in this episode: How to Use Real People in Your Writing Without Ending Up in Court: https://helensedwick.com/how-to-use-real-people-in-your-writing/ Law & Authors: a conversation with Jacqui Lipton https://youtu.be/GDydK3Z4aOI How to and (Especially) How Not to Write About Family https://www.janefriedman.com/write-about-family-memoir/ A Big Shitty Party: Six Parables of Writing About Other People Millions of Followers? For Book Sales, ‘It's Unreliable.' https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/07/books/social-media-following-book-publishing.html   Jane Friedman (@JaneFriedman) has 20 years of experience in the publishing industry, with expertise in digital media strategy for authors and publishers. She is the publisher of The Hot Sheet, the essential newsletter on the publishing industry for authors, and was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World in 2019. In addition to being a columnist for Publishers Weekly, Jane is a professor with The Great Courses, which released her 24-lecture series, How to Publish Your Book. Her book for creative writers, The Business of Being a Writer (University of Chicago Press), received a starred review from Library Journal. Jane speaks regularly at conferences and industry events such as BookExpo America, Digital Book World, and the AWP Conference, and has served on panels with the National Endowment for the Arts and the Creative Work Fund. Find out more. www.janefriedman.com  https://www.instagram.com/janefriedman/   Ronit's essays and fiction have been featured in The Atlantic, The Rumpus, The New York Times, The Iowa Review, The Washington Post, Writer's Digest, American Literary Review, and elsewhere. Her memoir WHEN SHE COMES BACK about the loss of her mother to the guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and their eventual reconciliation was named Finalist in both the 2021 Best Book Awards and the 2021 Book of the Year Award and a 2021 Best True Crime Book by Book Riot. Her short story collection HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE won Hidden River Arts' 2020 Eludia Award and will be published in 2022. She is host and producer of the podcasts And Then Everything Changed and The Body Myth. More about Ronit: https://ronitplank.com More about WHEN SHE COMES BACK, a memoir: https://ronitplank.com/book/ Sign up for monthly podcast and writing updates: https://bit.ly/33nyTKd   Follow Ronit: https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/ https://twitter.com/RonitPlank https://www.facebook.com/RonitPlank   Background photo credit: Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash Headshot photo credit: Sarah Anne Photography Theme music: Isaac Joel, Dead Moll's Finger

Hello, BookLoves.In this episode of the Intralingo World Lit Podcast, I offer a short reading from the book Walking the Bowl: A True Story of Murder and Survival Among the Street Children of Lusaka, by Chris Lockhart & Daniel Mulilo Chama.Below, I offer a whole lot more about it, what I took from it, and what I hope you might too.From the publisher: For readers of Behind the Beautiful Forevers and Nothing to Envy, this is a breathtaking real-life story of four street children in contemporary Zambia whose lives are drawn together and forever altered by the mysterious murder of a fellow street child.This book is nothing short of a dedicated miracle.Over a period of years, the co-authors, a graduate student and a team of four former street children lived and worked in the vast slums of Zambia’s capital city, getting to know a cross section of the population, taking hundreds of pages of notes and over a thousand hours of recordings.When a young boy, who became known as the Ho Ho Kid, was found murdered at the city dump, the team dedicated their efforts to following the investigation in real time and discovered a connection to many of the children they were already in contact with.Lusabilo, a self-titled “chief” and waste picker at the dump finds the Ho Ho Kid’s body and is forced to assist the police in their investigation. Along the way, he is led to Moonga, a recent arrival who has turned to begging, become hooked on sniffing glue and dreams of going to school; Timo, an ambitious and ruthless gang leader; and Kapula, an exhausted brothel worker who is saving to get out of the slum.The connections between these four kids, who each eke out a brutal existence, and the murdered child is told unflinchingly, unsentimentally, yet with emotion and compassion.Knowing they wanted to reach the wider public, to tell a very specific story that would humanize these individuals, rather than perpetuate the tropes or appeal only to a small circle of insider professionals, Lockhart and Chama cowrote these intertwined stories as a work of narrative non-fiction.I felt a stabbing pain at how every one of these kids had been abandoned by family and society, left to survive on their own in unimaginably unforgiving conditions. And every time I felt compelled to DO SOMETHING, the authors reminded me how well-meaning but utterly ineffectual foreign “aid” often is.Lockhart, an American medical anthropologist who has worked in Africa for decades, and Chama, a Zambian social worker who himself was a street child, hold nothing back. They expose what seems to be an unsolvable tragedy of poverty and corruption, helped little or even made worse by Western notions of “development.”And yet they present a story that is ultimately one of hope.In their preface, they say:“If you were to ask us what we hope you learn from this book, we would say we hope you learn a little bit about the day-to-day lives and realities of street children and a great deal about the power of the smallest good.”Walking the bowl—offering what little you can to another—is at the heart of this story. It’s a tale the Outreacher shares with every kid in the slums and with the White Man. (And it’s the reading I offer here, in this podcast episode.)Toward the end of the book, Kapula tells the Outreacher:“I wonder how different things would be if everyone did the small things you do for us every day. Even if they only did one thing in their whole lives, especially if that one thing was passed on to others—like in your story. Myself, I think it would be a very different world.”Myself, so do I.This book achieved its aim. I learned a little about others and a lot about how I can live a more powerful life. I was reminded that I don’t have to go to Africa. I don’t have to change the whole world. All I have to do is offer a simple kindness to another, right where I am, right here, consciously, whenever I can.Read this book. Because it’s good for you. For us. For humanity. Because it’s beautiful. Deep. Impactful. Necessary.But above all, walk the bowl. Please, may we all walk the bowl.~LisaLisa Carter is Founder and Creative Director of Intralingo, helping authors and translators write and readers explore stories. Lisa brings two decades of professional literary experience, including nine books and multiple other pieces published in translation, and nearly as many years of contemplative and compassion practices to her work. Her inclusive, engaged, caring presence inspires people to share their stories, create new ones and feel truly heard.My thanks to Hanover Square Press for the review copy.We often receive free books from publishers, authors and/or translators, and will always identify when that is the case. Recommendations are never paid. They are offered only when we genuinely want to share a book with you. Any links to the Intralingo store on Bookshop.org are affiliate links and may earn us a small commission on your purchase, at no extra cost to you. Bookshop is currently only available to US customers. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit booklove.intralingo.com

“There's a reason why all our old stories are fantastical and mythological, and why our fairy tales are so old. Because I think there is something in these mythologies and these folklore stories that tell us something about ourselves. And we've always done it, we've always put it into fantastical to explain the real.” Marlon James returns with Moon Witch, Spider King, the second installment of his Dark Star trilogy, and this time, Sogolon the witch is center stage. Marlon joins us on the show to talk about the reality behind fantasy and the fantasy behind reality, false starts, his fascination with court intrigue, WWBD? (What Would Boo Do?), handing the story over to his characters, his playlist and his podcast (Marlon and Jake Read Dead People), and more. Featured books:   Moon Witch, Spider King by Marlon James Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel Restoration by Rose Tremain Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo East of Eden by John Steinbeck   Poured Over is produced and hosted by Miwa Messer, edited by David Eitel and mixed by Harry Liang.  Follow us here for new episodes Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional bonus episodes on Saturdays).

"'I came to see the mountains as an outpouring of our modern lives,' Roy writes, 'of the endless chase for our desires to fill us.' Readers of Behind the Beautiful Forevers will be drawn to this harrowing portrait." — Publishers Weekly Claudia Cragg (@claudiacragg) speaks here with journalist Saumya Roy about her new non-fiction work, .  All of Mumbai's possessions and memories come to die at the Deonar garbage mountains. Towering at the outskirts of the city, the mountains are covered in a faint smog from trash fires. Over time, as wealth brought Bollywood knock offs, fast food and plastics to Mumbaikars, a small, forgotten community of migrants and rag-pickers came to live at the mountains' edge, making a living by re-using, recycling and re-selling.   Among them is Farzana Ali Shaikh, a tall, adventurous girl who soon becomes one of the best pickers in her community. Over time, her family starts to fret about Farzana's obsessive relationship to the garbage. Like so many in her community, Farzana, made increasingly sick by the trash mountains, is caught up in the thrill of discovery—because among the broken glass, crushed cans, or even the occasional dead baby, there's a lingering chance that she will find a treasure to lift her family's fortunes.   As Farzana enters adulthood, her way of life becomes more precarious. Mumbai is pitched as a modern city, emblematic of the future of India, forcing officials to reckon with closing the dumping grounds, which would leave the waste pickers more vulnerable than ever.   In a narrative instilled with superstition and magical realism, Saumya Roy crafts a modern parable exploring the consequences of urban overconsumption. A moving testament to the impact of fickle desires, Castaway Mountain reveals that when you own nothing, you know where true value lies: in family, community and love.        Saumya Roy is a journalist and activist based in Mumbai. She has written for Forbes India magazine, Mint newspaper, Outlook magazine, wsj.com, thewire.in and Bloomberg News among others. In 2010 she co- founded Vandana Foundation to support the livelihoods of Mumbai's poorest micro entrepreneurs by giving small, low interest loans. She has received fellowships from the Rockefeller Foundation's Bellagio Center, Blue Mountain Center, Carey Institute for Global Good and Sangam House to write this book. She attended a conference on environmental humanities at KTH, Stockholm in 2017 to share her research, and contributed a chapter to Dharavi: The Cities Within/ (HarperCollins, 2013), an anthology of essays on Asia's largest slum. Roy was a fellow of the National Foundation of India in 2012, and has Masters Degrees in journalism from Northwestern University and Mumbai's Sophia College, where she teaches magazine writing.  

Deep in the jungle, Fabiano Maisonnave finds amazing stories to tell. He is the only correspondent for a major Brazilian newspaper to be based in the Amazon rainforest region. Long before he reported on remote Amazon tribes, Fabiano tells us about leaving his first assignment in farm country over death threats. He then sets off on a long period as a foreign correspondent, covering Latin America from all over the region, and later becoming Folha’s correspondent in Beijing.  Countries featured: Brazil, Venezuela, Honduras, China Publications featured: Folha de S.Paulo Fabiano discusses growing up in a closed community around a megadam project during the Brazilian dictatorship (7:45), his first job digging into corruption in Brazil’s farm country and being run out of town (15:10), reporting around Latin America, including a coup in Honduras that left him in close quarters with the ousted president (22:21), moving to China to report on everything from fake shoes to geopolitics (26:45), returning to Brazil to report on the Amazon (33:19), the story that got away about a political murder in the early 2000s (38:56), rooting out a corrupt businessman attempting to bribe indigenous to mine their territory (43:55), dangers and challenges of reporting in the rainforest and living in Manaus (49:09) and finally the lightning round (59:38).    Here are links to some of the things we talked about: Jake’s story on the Brazilian military in the Amazon - https://reut.rs/3w0b0Se Fabiano’s story on traditional runaway slave communities (English) - https://bit.ly/3tZkV8Y Fabiano’s english language work on Climate Home - https://bit.ly/3cqKSbg His story on a polluted waterfall (Portuguese) - https://bit.ly/3cqftpy Fabiano’s story on Chinese knockoff shoes (Portuguese) - https://bit.ly/3lSSuXo His story on attempts to bribe indigenous to mine their land (Portugese) - https://bit.ly/3conWcK His story accompanying indigenous attempting to shut down illegal mines (Portuguese) -  https://bit.ly/3tZ8Z6S Amazonia Real (Portuguese) - https://bit.ly/39lkWMn NYT Book Review podcast - https://apple.co/3fk1Bij Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo - https://amzn.to/2UpGXSm Harry Hole by Jo Nesbo wiki - https://bit.ly/3lXnGVb Ten Days that Shook the World by John Reed - https://amzn.to/39jsgbz   Follow us on Twitter @foreignpod or on Facebook at facebook.com/foreignpod Music: LoveChances (makaihbeats.net) by Makaih Beats From: freemusicarchive.org CC BY NC

Ode to a Grecian journ(alist). Family looms large in this episode with Joanna Kakissis (@joannakakissis), a correspondent in Athens for National Public Radio, whose Greek parents instilled in her the importance of their culture from a young age. She made a mark early in her career as part of a Pulitzer finalist newspaper reporting team before returning to her roots in Greece where she has reported for more than a decade. Countries featured: Turkey, USA, Greece Publications featured: The News & Observer, Boston Globe, Time magazine, The New York Times, NPR Joanna discusses growing up as the only Greeks in small town North Dakota (4:43), her trajectory from college to NPR (16:12), her newspaper coverage of a hurricane in North Carolina that taught her not to exoticize her subjects (23:00), why she took a risk to cover the Athens Olympics for the Boston Globe and became a freelance foreign correspondent (28:46), her broader European coverage (35:00), a story that got away about a Syrian doctor in Germany who killed the piece for fear for his family (38:58), her series for NPR on Uighurs in Turkey (44:28) and the lightning round (54:45).   Here are links to some of the things we talked about: Joanna talks about covering the European migrant crisis - https://n.pr/3kAnokS Part 1 of Joanna’s Uighur in Turkey series - https://n.pr/32GhJ6T Part 2 - https://n.pr/3kw8X1e Part 3 - https://n.pr/3eYpDxg NPR’s Radiolab - https://bit.ly/36BmsaX NPR’s Rough Translation podcast - https://n.pr/2ZXvzRo NYT’s The Jungle Prince of Delhi - https://nyti.ms/39hXIUR NYT Cooking mapo tofu recipe - https://nyti.ms/2IAUIuP Katherine Boo’s Behind the Beautiful Forevers - https://amzn.to/2UpGXSm   Follow us on Twitter @foreignpod or on Facebook at facebook.com/foreignpod Music: LoveChances (makaihbeats.net) by Makaih Beats From: freemusicarchive.org CC BY NC

Conservative parties operating in modern democracies face a dilemma: How does a party that represents the interests of moneyed elites win mass support? The dilemma sharpens as inequality widens — the more the haves have, the more have-nots there are who want to tax them. In their new book, Let Them Eat Tweets: How the Right Rules in an Age of Extreme Inequality, political scientists Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson argue that three paths are possible: Moderate on economics, activate social divisions, or undermine democracy itself. The Republican Party, they hold, has chosen a mix of two and three. “To advance an unpopular plutocratic agenda, Republicans have escalated white backlash — and, increasingly, undermined democracy,” they write. On some level, it’s obvious that the GOP is a coalition between wealthy donors who want tax cuts and regulatory favors, and downscale whites who fear demographic change and want Trump to build that wall. But how does that coalition work? What happens when one side gains too much power? If the donor class was somehow raptured out of politics, would the result be a Republican Party that trafficked less in social division, or more? And has the threat of strongman rule distracted us from the growing reality of minoritarian rule? In this conversation, we discuss how inequality has remade the Republican Party, the complex relationship between white identity politics and plutocratic economics, what to make of the growing crop of GOP leaders who want to abandon tax cuts for the rich and recenter the party around ethnonationalism, how much power Republican voters have over their party, and much more. Paul Pierson's book recommendations: Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo Evicted by Matthew Desmond The Social Limits to Growth by Fred Hirsch Jacob Hacker's book recommendations: Tocqueville's Discovery of America by Leo Damrosch The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro The Internationalists by Oona A. Hathaway and Scott J. Shapiro Please consider making a contribution to Vox to support this show: bit.ly/givepodcasts Your support will help us keep having ambitious conversations about big ideas. New to the show? Want to check out Ezra’s favorite episodes? Check out the Ezra Klein Show beginner’s guide (http://bit.ly/EKSbeginhere) Credits: Producer/Editor - Jeff Geld Researcher in chief - Roge Karma Want to contact the show? Reach out at ezrakleinshow@vox.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Emily and Amanda are here to chat about all things books, movies, and TV shows. You’ll hear our Top 3 books and movies from January. The theme of this episode is war. Emily watched a lot of movies set during wartime and Amanda read books set during WWII and war in space. In our Mentionables segment we talk about everything that didn’t make our top 3 lists. Older movies like Almost Famous show why they are still classics while newer movies like The King won’t be remembered. We’d love to hear what you think about what we discussed. You can now find us on Instagram at @SRSWpodcast! You can also find Emily and Amanda online here: Emily: Twitter and Letterboxd Amanda: Twitter, Instagram, Letterboxd, and Goodreads As always, time-stamped show notes are below with references to every book, TV show, and film we mentioned in this episode.  Timestamps Top 3 Films and Books  2:33 The Phantom Tollbooth – book  3:20 Black Narcissus – movie  5:26 Deborah Kerr – actress  5:30 Jean Simmons – actress 6:00 The Storyteller’s Secret – book  7:50 Kate Morton – author  9:10 Behind the Beautiful Forevers – book  9:26 A Hidden Life – movie  10:40 Terrence Malick – director  13:30 Slaughterhouse-Five – book  18:20 1917 – movie  18:52 Band of Brothers – TV series  19:29 Roger Deakins – Cinematographer  21:30 Dean-Charles Chapman – actor  22:08 Starsight – book  Mentionables 24:28 Long Bright River – book  27:14 The King – movie  28:50 Timothée Chalamet – actor 29:30 Almost Famous – movie 30:32 Avenue 5 – TV show  31:24 Blade Runner 2049 – movie  32:45 Blade Runner The Final Cut – movie  33:30 Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist – TV show  35:46 Rosemary’s Baby – movie  36:50 Sanditon – TV series  38:46 Beasts of the Southern Wild – movie  39:12 Wendy – movie 

How the cast system affects people in India and what it is.

A discussion of what it must be like being the first woman to want and to and work toward being the first woman slumlord, and her son Rahul's stories of the hotel and the cultural, and somewhat classist things he encountered.

Meera Syal stars in a National Theatre adaptation of Katherine Boo's bestselling non-fiction novel, Behind The Beautiful Forevers, which vividly depicts life in a Mumbai slum.

In this episode, poet Deborah Landau and novelist Mathangi Subramanian talk to Fiction/Non/Fiction podcast co-hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell about their writing lives as Americans abroad. From exploring Paris's rich expat literary history to witnessing the diversity of slums in India, Landau and Subramanian discuss what they found when they began writing in unfamiliar places. Guests:Deborah LandauMathangi Subramanian Readings for the Episode:Deborah LandauOrchideliriumThe Last Usable HourThe Uses of the BodySoft Targets Mathangi SubramanianA People's History of HeavenThe Day My Outrage Went Viral, Zora Magazine, Aug. 2Picturing Change photography project (Greeshma Patel) Others:A Moveable Feast by Ernest HemingwayBehind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine BooHow To Write About Africa by Binyavanga Wainaina, Granta Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Writer David Hare reflects on his new play I’m Not Running, chaired by Helen Lewis. David Hare is a playwright and film-maker. Hare first worked at the National Theatre in 1971. Seventeen of his plays have since been presented there including Plenty, Pravda (with Howard Brenton), The Secret Rapture, Racing Demon, Murmuring Judges, Skylight, Amy’s View, Stuff Happens, The Absence of War, Behind the Beautiful Forevers and The Red Barn. Film and TV includes Collateral, Licking Hitler, Dreams of Leaving, Saigon: Year of the Cat, Wetherby, Damage, The Hours, The Reader, and the Worricker Trilogy: Page Eight, Turks & Caicos and Salting the Battlefield.

Welcome to a special episode…Winter 2019 Book Preview with Catherine of Gilmore Guide to Books! Catherine and I share our most anticipated books coming out in January, February, and March of 2019. Also, stay tuned for my Most Anticipated Books of Winter 2019 blog post, which is coming out tomorrow. I’ll share some of the books I talked about in this podcast, but also many that I didn’t! Highlights The similarities and differences between Catherine’s and my reading taste. How Catherine and I choose which books to read. Why we need Brain Candy in our reading. How well do you want to know the author behind the work? Winter 2019 Book Preview January Sarah’s Picks: Sugar Run by Mesha Maron (January 8) | Buy from Amazon [7:31] Joy Enough by Sarah McColl (January 15) | Buy from Amazon [10:50] Otherwise Engaged by Lindsey J. Palmer (Publication Date Changed to February 26) | Buy from Amazon [13:56] Catherine’s Picks: The Only Woman in the Room by Marie Benedict (January 8) | Buy from Amazon [9:26] Unmarriagable by Soniah Kamal (January 22) | Buy from Amazon [12:45] The Current by Tim Johnston (January 22) | Buy from Amazon [16:29] February Sarah’s Picks: Bowlaway by Elizabeth McCracken (February 5) | Buy from Amazon [18:40] American Pop by Snowden Wright (February 5) | Buy from Amazon [22:58] The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls by Anissa Gray (February 19) | Buy from Amazon [26:47] The Lost Prince: A Search for Pat Conroy by Michael Mewshaw (February 26) | Buy from Amazon [30:09] Catherine’s Picks: I Owe You One by Sophie Kinsella (February 5) | Buy from Amazon [20:42] The Chef’s Secret by Crystal King (February 12) | Buy from Amazon [25:36] Death is Hard Work by Khaled Khalifa (February 12) | Buy from Amazon [28:27] March Sarah’s Picks: So, Here’s the Thing: Notes on Growing Up, Getting Older, and Trusting Your Gut by Alyssa Mastromonaco (March 5) | Buy from Amazon [34:36] White Elephant by Julia Langsdorf (March 26) | Buy from Amazon [39:27] Catherine’s Picks: The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See (March 5) | Buy from Amazon [33:10] A People’s History of Heaven by Mathangi Subramanian (March 19) | Buy from Amazon [37:19] The Other Americans by Laila Lalami (March 26) | Buy from Amazon [42:14] Other Books Mentioned Fates & Furies by Lauren Groff (My Review) | Buy from Amazon [8:00] An American Marriage (My Review) | Buy from Amazon [8:20] The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid (My Review) | Buy from Amazon[9:44] Goodbye, Vitamin by Rachel Khong (My Review) | Buy from Amazon [11:27] Tell Me More by Kelly Corrigan (My Review) | Buy from Amazon [12:27] Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake by Anna Quindlen | Buy from Amazon [12:36] Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen | Buy from Amazon [12:59] The Hopefuls by Jennifer Close (My Review) | Buy from Amazon [16:00] Descent by Tim Johnston | Buy from Amazon [16:34] Commonwealth by Ann Patchett (My Review) | Buy from Amazon [19:22] The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne (My Review) | Buy from Amazon [20:06] A Ladder to the Sky by John Boyne (My Review) | Buy from Amazon [20:14] Feast of Sorrow by Crystal King | Buy from Amazon [25:43] An American Marriage by Tayari Jones (My Review) | Buy from Amazon [28:03] The Mothers by Brit Bennett (My Review) | Buy from Amazon [28:09] Beach Music by Pat Conroy | Buy from Amazon [30:54] The Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See | Buy from Amazon [33:18] Shanghai Girls by Lisa See | Buy from Amazon [33:18] The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See | Buy from Amazon [34:20] Who Thought This Was a Good Idea? by Alyssa Mastromonaco | Buy from Amazon [35:04] Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo | Buy from Amazon [38:35] Alternate Side by Anna Quindlen (My Review) | Buy from Amazon [41:06] Final Girls by Riley Sager | Buy from Amazon [41:42] The Moor’s Account by Laila Lalami | Buy from Amazon [42:25] Other Links The New and Improved 2019 Rock Your Reading Tracker (available for purchase for $14.99) My Top Recommendation Sources of 2018 From the Front Porch podcast (co-hosted by Annie Jones and Chris Jensen) Spivey’s Club Facebook Group (founded by Ashley Spivey) The Affair (Showtime TV series) Book Riot’s All the Books Podcast: 2019 Preview About Catherine Gilmore Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram Catherine started The Gilmore Guide to Books over 6 years ago after wrapping up a career as a corporate librarian. She loves books and reading (surprise!) and currently lives in Seattle. Support the Podcast Share - If you like the podcast, I’d love for you to share it with your reader friends…in real life and on social media (there’s easy share buttons at the bottom of this post!). Subscribe...wherever you listen to podcasts, so new episodes will appear in your feed as soon as they’re released. Rate and Review - Search for “Sarah’s Book Shelves” in Apple Podcasts…or wherever you listen to podcasts! Feedback - I want this podcast to fit what you’re looking for, so I truly do want your feedback! Please tell me (email me at sarahsbookshelves@gmail.com or DM me on social media) what you like, don’t like, want more of, want less of, etc. I’d also love to hear topics you’d like me to cover and guests you’d like to hear from.

Dr. Mike Graves preaches the sermon "Zacchaeus: Behind the Beautiful Forevers". This is Part Five in the "Greatest Hits" sermon series and is based on Luke 19:1-10.

This week we are joined by author and journalist, Nancy Rommelmann. Nancy talks to us about her newest book To The Bridge: A True Story of Motherhood and Murder, her process as an investigative journalist, and about the time she traveled to see John Wayne Gacy on death row. You can find everything we talk about this week in the show notes below. By shopping through the links you help support The Stacks, at no cost to you. Shop on Amazon and iTunes. BOOKS To the Bridge by Nancy Rommelmann All the President's Men by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward Destination Gacy by Nancy Rommelmann Columbine by Dave Cullen Wanderer by Sterling Hayden Shot in the Heart by Mikal Gilmore A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole Barbarian Days by William Finnegan A Wilderness of Error by Errol Morris The Journalist and the Murderer by Janet Malcolm Fatal Vision by Joe McGinniss Katherine Boo Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo The Reckonings by Lacy M. Johnson The Landmark Julius Caesar by Kurt A. Raaflaub The Power Broker by Robert Caro The Passage by Justin Cronin The Twelve by Justin Cronin Valley of the Kings by Terrance Coffey Being Mortal by Atul Gawande The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande Deborah Reed Life After Life by Kate Atkinson City of Thieves by David Benioff Alias Omnibus by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Gaydos Joan Didion Play It as It Lays by Joan Didion The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion After Henry by Joan Didion Lost Girls by Robert Kolker Sahara Unveiled by William Langewiesche The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough The Adversary by Emmanuel Carrère I'll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara Point to Point Navigation by Gore Vidal The Vanity Fair Diaries by Tina Brown Netherland by Joseph O'Neill The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist by Radley Balko and Tucker Carrington The Sociopath Next Door by Martha Stout Deep Survival by Laurence Gonzales  Othello by William Shakespeare The Odyssey by Homer Albert Speer: His Battle with Truth by Gita Sereny All-of-a-Kind Family by Sydney Taylor Edie by Jean Stein Bad Behavior by Mary Gaitskill The Gift of Fear by Gavin de Becker The Queens of Montague Street by Nancy Rommelmann The Patrick Melrose Novels by Edward St. Aubyn James Baldwin If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin J.M. Coetzee Raymond Chandler Bad Blood by John Carreyrou EVERYTHING ELSE LA Weekly Cults (Parcast Network) Heaven's Gate (Stitcher / Pineapple Street Media) "Taking My Ex Back In (for His Own Good)" (Nancy Rommelmann, New York Times) The Godfather (Paramount Pictures) Reason.com Wall Street Journal Book Review The New Yorker "Why Atul Gawande Will Soon Be The Most Feared CEO In Healthcare" (Robert Pearl, M.D., Forbes) Game of Thrones (HBO) Amanda Peet @25inFive Instagram Readathon Account William Langewiesche at Vanity Fair William Langewiesche at the Atlantic Patrick Melrose (Showtime) Connect with Nancy: Nancy's Instagram|Nancy's Twitter|Nancy's Website Connect with The Stacks: Instagram|The Stacks Website|Facebook|Twitter|Subscribe|Patreon|Goodreads|Traci's Instagram To contribute to The Stacks, join The Stacks Pack, and get exclusive perks, check out our Patreon page. We are beyond grateful for anything you're able to give to support the production of this show. If you prefer to do a one time contribution go to paypal.me/thestackspod. Sponsors Audible- to get your FREE audiobook download and FREE 30 day trial go to audibletrial.com/thestacks. My Mentor Book Club - for 50% off your first month of new nonfiction from My Mentor Book Club go to mymentorbookclub.com/thestacks The Stacks participates in affiliate programs. We receive a small commission when products are purchased through links on this website. Shopping through these links helps support the show, but does not effect my opinions on...

For episode 25 of the Fiction/Non/Fiction podcast, novelist and journalist Nathaniel Rich and poet and activist Juliana Spahr discuss writing about climate change and ecological destruction with hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell. In part one, Rich discusses the history and craft behind his groundbreaking New York Times Magazine article “Losing Earth: The Decade We Almost Stopped Climate Change.” Next, Spahr talks about her recent Harper's poem “A Destruction Story,” Trump's use of poetry in his recent rallies, and the purpose of ecopoetics. Readings for the episode: “Losing Earth,” Odds Against Tomorrow, and King Zeno by Nathaniel Rich “A Destruction Story” and “Gentle Now, Don't Add to Heartache” by Juliana Spahr The Jasons: The Secret History of Science's Postwar Elite by Ann Finkbeiner In Cold Blood by Truman Capote The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe  John Adams by David McCullough Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boohttps://www.indiebound.org/book/9780812979329 Encounters with the Archdruid by John McPheehttps://www.indiebound.org/book/9780374514310 Nathaniel Rich's Energy Gang podcast interview Turtle Island by Gary Snyder   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Steve Clemons of the Atlantic talks with MacArthur Genius Grant recipient and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Katherine Boo. Her bestseller, “Behind the Beautiful Forevers” tells the dramatic and sometimes heartbreaking story of families striving for a better life in a Mumbai slum. Based on three years of uncompromising reporting, she puts a human face on issues of inequality. Series: "Helen Edison Lecture Series" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 33266]

Steve Clemons of the Atlantic talks with MacArthur Genius Grant recipient and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Katherine Boo. Her bestseller, “Behind the Beautiful Forevers” tells the dramatic and sometimes heartbreaking story of families striving for a better life in a Mumbai slum. Based on three years of uncompromising reporting, she puts a human face on issues of inequality. Series: "Helen Edison Lecture Series" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 33266]

Steve Clemons of the Atlantic talks with MacArthur Genius Grant recipient and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Katherine Boo. Her bestseller, “Behind the Beautiful Forevers” tells the dramatic and sometimes heartbreaking story of families striving for a better life in a Mumbai slum. Based on three years of uncompromising reporting, she puts a human face on issues of inequality. Series: "Helen Edison Lecture Series" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 33266]

Steve Clemons of the Atlantic talks with MacArthur Genius Grant recipient and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Katherine Boo. Her bestseller, “Behind the Beautiful Forevers” tells the dramatic and sometimes heartbreaking story of families striving for a better life in a Mumbai slum. Based on three years of uncompromising reporting, she puts a human face on issues of inequality. Series: "Helen Edison Lecture Series" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 33266]

Steve Clemons of the Atlantic talks with MacArthur Genius Grant recipient and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Katherine Boo. Her bestseller, “Behind the Beautiful Forevers” tells the dramatic and sometimes heartbreaking story of families striving for a better life in a Mumbai slum. Based on three years of uncompromising reporting, she puts a human face on issues of inequality. Series: "Helen Edison Lecture Series" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 33266]

Steve Clemons of the Atlantic talks with MacArthur Genius Grant recipient and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Katherine Boo. Her bestseller, “Behind the Beautiful Forevers” tells the dramatic and sometimes heartbreaking story of families striving for a better life in a Mumbai slum. Based on three years of uncompromising reporting, she puts a human face on issues of inequality. Series: "Helen Edison Lecture Series" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 33266]

In this episode my sister, Sharon, and I discuss the book Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo. Twitter: https://twitter.com/ruthrootz Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ruthrootz/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ruthrootz/ Blog: Rootz’s Blog: https://blogbyrootz.blogspot.com Apple Podcasts: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/better-with-books/id1293449772?mt=2 Anchor: https://anchor.fm/betterwithbooks RadioPublic: https://play.radiopublic.com/better-with-books-WwDRqy Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=185181 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCc-cBvKXkTgAyDLm7uYQaEQ?view_as=subscriber SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/betterwithbooks email: rootzmacbwb@gmail.com

Hello listeners! For Women's History Month, we're featuring six nonfiction books by six amazing women. Books Mentioned in this Episode The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher http://amzn.to/2lw5K4b Cleopatra by Stacy Schiff http://amzn.to/2maLWXG Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly http://amzn.to/2mqpLNN Bad Girls Throughout History: 100 Remarkable Women Who Changed the World by Ann Shen http://amzn.to/2lQVNRv Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo http://amzn.to/2l98bO0 Cinderella Ate My Daughter by Peggy Orenstein http://amzn.to/2lw4NZt Contact hello@readingwomenpodcast.com | readingwomenpodcast.com Litsy, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram: @thereadingwomen Music “Stickybee” by Josh Woodard Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Libby Purves meets actor and writer Meera Syal; writer and director James Runcie; former soldier Elliot Ackerman and Philip Hoare, author, broadcaster and whale chaser. Philip Hoare is a writer and broadcaster. He narrates Chasing the Whale, a show inspired by the 19th century journeys of whaling ships from Britain to the South Seas. Philip's stories delve into the log books of history to tell of the dangers and hardships endured by the crews on their epic voyages. The author of the award-winning Leviathan and the Whale, he also recalls his own memories of swimming alongside whales. Chasing the Whale is on tour. James Runcie is a writer, director and filmmaker. He is the author of The Grantchester Mysteries series about full-time priest and part-time detective, Sidney Chambers. Inspired in part by his father, the former Archbishop of Canterbury Robert Runcie's experiences, the series is set in the 1950s. James is visiting professor at Bath Spa University. The second series of Grantchester, based on The Grantchester Mysteries, is on ITV with James Norton as Sidney Chambers. Sidney Chambers and The Problem of Evil is published by Bloomsbury. Elliot Ackerman is an author who spent eight years in the US military as an infantry and special operations officer. He served five tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan and is the recipient of the Silver Star, the Bronze Star for Valor and the Purple Heart. His novel Green on Blue tells the story of an Afghan boy who joins a US-funded militia after his parents are killed and who finds himself trapped in a savage and complex war. Green on Blue is published by Daunt Books. Meera Syal CBE is an actor and writer. Her third novel, The House of Hidden Mothers, deals with the themes of late parenthood and surrogacy. Her first novel Anita and Me is based on her life growing up in Wolverhampton and is now a national curriculum set text. She has starred in the TV series The Kumars at No. 42 and Goodness Gracious Me. Her theatre work includes Beatrice in the RSC's Much Ado About Nothing and Zehrunnisa in David Hare's play, Behind the Beautiful Forevers at the National Theatre. She is appearing with Kenneth Branagh's theatre company as the nurse in Romeo and Juliet at London's Garrick Theatre. The House of Hidden Mothers is published by Black Swan. Producer: Paula McGinley.

This week we're mashing up past and present.2:07 - A Triangle Productions world premiere, "Storefront Revue: The Babes Are Back," tells the story of the anything-goes creative maelstrom that was Portland's Storefront Theater in the 70s and 80s. 12:30 - Video game developers large and small come together for a PIGSquad challenge: build a game in 48 hours. Sleep? Who needs it?21:17 - Katherine Boo talks about revealing the hidden world of a Mumbai slum in "The Beautiful Forevers" on "Think Out Loud" during a live show at Literary Arts.29:36 - Guster is just one of many national bands that come to Portland to record their albums with one of our talented record producers. In their case, it was at the Cottage Grove studio of producer Richard Swift, who also tours with The Shins and The Black Keys. During a recent opbmusic session, Guster talks about the role Swift played in their new album, which many critics have hailed as a modern update on their guitar pop sound.35:28 - Paisley School, which has a total K-12 student body of 83, stages "Hamlet." Performances May 6th and 7th at Paisley School!40:04 - We dip into the Portland Arts & Lectures archive to hear from Joan Didion. You can hear her whole talk with her late husband, the writer John Dunne, at Literary Arts: The Archive Project.We end with a request for audio: Do you remember hearing Willie Nelson on the air back when he was DJing in Vancouver, Washington? If so, email us at stateofwonder@opb.org.

Sometimes word nerds just need a place to talk shop, and that s what we intend to do here. In this episode of the The Writer Files I ve asked award-winning journalist Adam Skolnick to join me on a guest segment we’re calling Writer Porn. Adam is an award-winning, globetrotting travel journalist, which is kind of a rare thing these days. He is the author and co author of 25 Lonely Planet guidebooks, and has written for publications as varied as the New York Times (for whom he won a big award from the Associated Press Sports Editors last year), ESPN.com, Wired, Men’s Health, Outside, BBC, and Playboy Magazine. He recently finished his first narrative non-fiction book based on his award-winning NY Times coverage of the death of the greatest American free diver of all time, titled One Breath (slated for publication in January). Adam and I talk about how a page one New York Times story became a book, the secret literary legacy of Playboy Magazine, debunking Jack Kerouac’s prolificness, and tips and tricks to staying focused when you re working on multiple projects across multiple timezones. In this 29-minute file Adam Skolnick and I discuss: How a Tragic New York Times Story Became a Book What a Globetrotting Journalist Does to Get a Story The Secret Literary Legacy of Playboy Magazine What Mr. Skolnick Has in Common with Hunter S. Thompson One Great Trick to Stay Focused on Multiple Deadlines Busting The Urban Legend of Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road” Why You Shouldn’t Compare Yourself to Other Writers How to Stay Organized When You Have a Ton of Research Listen to The Writer Files: Writing, Productivity, Creativity, and Neuroscience below ... Download MP3 Subscribe by RSS Subscribe in iTunes The Show Notes AdamSkolnick.com A Deep-Water Diver From Brooklyn Dies After Trying for a Record Top 10 Writers Published in Playboy ‘I Only Read It For The Interviews’ The Fact and Fiction of ‘On the Road’ Process: The Writing Lives of Great Authors by Sarah Stodola Voice Recorder HD for Audio Recording, Playback, Trimming and Sharing Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Kaherine Boo Zeitoun by Dave Eggers Kelton Reid on Twitter Adam Skolnick on Twitter Writer Porn on Twitter Rainmaker.FM is Brought to You By   Discover why more than 80,000 companies in 135 countries choose WP Engine for managed WordPress hosting. Start getting more from your site today! The Transcript How Award-Winning Journalist Adam Skolnick Writes Voiceover: This is Rainmaker.FM, the digital marketing podcast network. It’s built on the Rainmaker Platform, which empowers you to build your own digital marketing and sales platform. Start your free 14-day trial at RainmakerPlatform.com. Kelton Reid: These are The Writer Files, a tour of the habits, habitats, and brains of working writers, from online content creators to fictionists, journalists, entrepreneurs, and beyond. I’m your host, Kelton Reid: writer, podcaster, and mediaphile. Each week, we’ll find out how great writers keep the ink flowing, the cursor moving, and avoid writer s block. In this episode of The Writer Files, I’ve asked award-winning journalist Adam Skolnick to join me on a guest segment we call Writer Porn. Sometimes, word nerds just need a place to talk shop, and that’s what we intend to do here. We’ll talk about how a page-one New York Times story became a book, the secret literary legacy of Playboy magazine, debunking the urban legend of Jack Kerouac’s creative Mount Everest, and tips and tricks to staying focused when you’re working on multiple projects across multiple time zones. Just a quick introduction of Adam: he is an award-winning, globetrotting travel journalist, and obviously, that’s a rare thing these days. He is the author and co-author of 25 Lonely Planet guidebooks, and he’s also written for publications as varied as ESPN.com, Men’s Health, Outside, BBC, and Playboy. He’s just now finishing up his first narrative non-fiction book based on his award-winning New York Times coverage of the death of the greatest American free diver of all time. The title of that book is One Breath, and it is slated for publication in January. Congratulations on that accomplishment. That must feel pretty good. Adam Skolnick: Yeah, it feels great. It was a big, big weight off my shoulders. Kelton Reid: To say the least, I’m sure. Adam Skolnick: Yeah. You have this goal in mind, and it’s driving you. It was well over a year from the time when he died to the point of getting the book deal and researching the book and tagging along with the free divers and embedding myself with his friends and family, then writing it. You re so singly focused for all that time. Then when it’s done, you do relax deeply. Kelton Reid: You actually won a pretty big award from the AP last year, didn’t you? How a Tragic New York Times Story Became a Book Adam Skolnick: I don’t know how big it is, but in sports writing, it s fairly large. I was there to do more of a general feature on free diving for the New York Times — this was an event in November 2013 called Vertical Blue. Vertical Blue is the Wimbledon of free diving. It’s competitive free diving, so the divers compete in three different disciplines. They hold their breath, and they go as deep as possible on that one breath, either with fins or without fins, or by pulling a line down and back. That’s the event, and that’s the sport. Because it’s a growing sport, more and more people are getting into it either casually or seriously, and there are schools opening all over the world. It’s an international sport, and I was just there to do a general feature. When he died, tragically, I just happened to be there 10 feet away, so it became a different story right off the bat. That story, I wrote it that evening — the first one, the day-one story — and it went viral. I think it was the New York Times number-one story that day. Then the next day, we did a follow-up piece with a group of writers, myself and three others, and both those stories were widely disseminated. I think people were enamored with the sport, enamored with the this diver, Nicholas Mevoli. The Times submitted it. I had no idea they were submitting it until they were. All the major papers submit to the APSE Awards. It’s a newspaper award, and it’s an organization, and they honor the best newspaper sports writing each year. I was lucky enough to win. Kelton Reid: It is an amazingly tragic story. I know that you spent a lot of time on the road, because I was getting rogue transmissions from you. Were you in Russia? What a Globetrotting Journalist Does to Get a Story Adam Skolnick: Yeah. The book starts with Nick s death, and then it goes back through his life. It’s Into the Wild meets Shadow Divers. Shadow Divers was a bestseller about some wreck divers and their quest to discover this new wreck they found, what it was and to name it. There was a lot of death and destruction involved in that, and it was a really compelling book. Into The Wild, we all know, is an iconic book and Krakauer’s first book. It’s a great book. Just like Chris McCandless in Into The Wild, Nick had a story where he had an even more troubled upbringing than McCandless, and he was searching for something, and he found it free diving after many, many forays into acting, into protest. The water was his refuge. The water was where he was free. He ended up finding this sport later in terms of athletics. He found it when he was 30. His first competition, he broke the American record. He was this gifted athlete, a tremendous athlete, not just as a swimmer. He was also a tremendous athlete on the bike. He was a near-X-Games-quality BMXer and just an incredible soul. Following him is a no-brainer. You want to tell that story. It s an inspiring story. I start with his story, and I go back and forth between him and the 2014 free diving seasons. For that, I went to Roatán for the Caribbean Cup, which is — if you use a tennis metaphor — one of the Grand Slam events, then the World Championships, which is obviously the World Championships, and that was in Sardinia, Italy, and then also back to Vertical Blue a year later. In the meantime, I spent time with two of the great Russian free divers. Natalia Molchanova and her son, Alexey Molchanov, are two of the very best free divers in the world. Natalia is the very best female free diver of all time, and Alexey is the deepest diver with fins, so he’s one of the two best free divers currently in the world. I spent time with them in Russia. Kelton Reid: You’ve been a little busy. Adam Skolnick: Yeah, I’ve been busy. What bridges those two stories in the book — Nick s story and his rise from the time he’s a child to getting into the sport, and then the 2014 season — is the work of some doctors who are trying to figure out what exactly happened to Nick, because his death is something the sport of free diving the sport had never seen before. It wasn’t the type of accident that you would have normally seen in free diving, it was very unique. Kelton Reid: It sounds like a really captivating story, and I actually can’t wait to read it. Adam Skolnick: Thanks, man. Kelton Reid: I just find it fascinating, the fact that you are a guy who is always on the road. You travel many, many months out of the year. You don’t have a permanent home. And then you’re constantly working on a handful of different deadlines simultaneously. One of those has been doing some writing for Playboy. I guess my first question is, how do average citizens react when you mention that you have published with them or are working for them? Adam Skolnick: Average citizens? Kelton Reid: I don’t know. How does your mom react? Adam Skolnick: I don’t know any average citizens, Kelton. Kelton Reid: I m sorry. The Secret Literary Legacy of Playboy Magazine Adam Skolnick: No, I think it’s funny. It depends on who it is. Some people react knowing that Playboy has this rich literary history, but more often, the younger folks I talk to laugh, and they have no idea of this rich history that Playboy has. I have to explain to them that there’s articles. Of course, I just finished up a story about free diving for Playboy that’ll be out in May. Going into the free diving community and explaining to them that I’m going to write a story for Playboy about the sport, some were just mystified that that’s a thing. I don’t know why. My theory is that people go elsewhere for their naked pictures, and that has somehow dimmed Playboy’s history in people s minds, when in reality, it’s still here. It s still kicking. It s still publishing good writers. Kelton Reid: So it s a generational thing, maybe. It s not that generation who’s saying, “I only read it for the articles,” any longer. They don’t even know that it has or had articles to begin with, or that some of the most famous authors of the 20th century published there, including Arthur C. Clarke, Ian Fleming, Nabokov, Chuck Palahniuk, Murakami, Margaret Atwood. The list goes on, and on, and on. You recognize some of those names. Adam Skolnick: Yeah, Gabriel García Márquez. Kelton Reid: Joseph Heller. Adam Skolnick: It’s an honor for me. I think Playboy’s upheld an ideal, and it was always a progressive ideal. It was a pushing-America-forward ideal. That’s how it was founded. Part of that is this great literary tradition. My favorite article probably of all time out of Playboy is the interview that Alex Haley did with Malcolm X, which subsequently led to the autobiography of Malcolm X, which was one of the great works of non-fiction in American history. Playboy has this incredibly rich tradition. It’s an honor to be associated with them. They have a full bar in their lobby. I love it. What Mr. Skolnick Has in Common with Hunter S. Thompson Kelton Reid: Another one of those great interviews, I think, was with Hunter S. Thompson, who, oddly enough, also wrote for the New York Times and was a pretty accomplished journalist himself. Another strange factoid — he relocated to Hawaii to work on a book. It sounds like a familiar theme. Did you write your book in Hawaii? Adam Skolnick: No, but I had relocated to Hawaii to do a story on the GMO corn seed farms that have cropped up where the old sugar cane plantations once were. There is one community that is being heavily impacted by tainted dust that’s blown into their community and damaged property and impacted public health. I moved out there to cover that story. In Hawaii, it’s very hard to parachute in and tell a story well. There’s trust issues with outsiders, and from the surf culture on, it s a very locals-only type spot. It was helpful for me to rent a house there and live there while I burrowed into this story. The person who came and shot that story, a photographer named Lia Barrett, had just come from the Caribbean Cup in 2013 where Nick had hit his 100-meter dive, and she was pitching, “Hey, we should be covering free diving together.” That was the whole genesis of me going to Vertical Blue in the first place, and that story also led me to connect with the New York Times in the first place. That story came out in Salon, but it connected me up with the New York Times science reporter there. It was just an odd turn of events that led me to be in the Bahamas that day, and Hawaii was definitely part of it. As far as me living overseas and working on stuff, that’s something I’ve done frequently. A couple of the places I’ve covered for Lonely Planet include Indonesia and Thailand, which I’ve covered each several times. Whenever I’m there and do those jobs, I tend to stay in the country to write my manuscript. I’ve done that several times. I’ve done the same thing. When I was working on stories, reporting about Myanmar and East Burma and the humanitarian crisis there, I’ve embedded in the community for some time to tell those stories. It’s something I’ve done and something I’ll continue to do. I enjoy doing that part of it and staying longer than most reporters would. Kelton Reid: Let me turn the conversation briefly to productivity. As you’re working on different long-form and short-form pieces, especially when you’re working on a hard deadline but you’re in a beautiful place like Bali or Hawaii, how do you stay focused, first of all? Adam Skolnick: The main thing for me is that I give myself a words-per-day quota. If you’re talking about a longer piece, or even with shorter pieces I do that now, you’re talking about a manuscript that’s upwards of 50,000, 100,000 words. Most books are over 100,000 words or around 100,000 words. The Lonely Planet manuscripts can vary anywhere from 30,000 to 80,000 — I ve had 90,000 words. It’s basically the same amount of material, but it’s just a different type of material. In order to hack through material, you have to give yourself a words-per-day quota, and once you do that, you find that you can meet it. That’s, I think, the hardest thing for newer writers, or younger writers, or any writer really — the focus, the expansion of that focus. Everyone could sit down when they’re inspired and pound out something, could make it sound good. What if they’re tired or dragging or not feeling it? How do they then push on? You have to. In order to put together any big piece of work, you have to be able to push through good days and bad days. Frankly, even the bad days could turn out better work than the good days sometimes. It’s just a matter of being there, showing up, doing it. I give myself a 3,000-word-a-day quota that I try to meet, whether I’m doing a Lonely Planet guide book or I’m doing my book. If I’m doing a magazine story — a feature story where I’ll still try to turn out a lot of words — I might do 2,000 words day then, because I’m going over the words a bit more carefully at first. Whereas with books, you can put out this massive amount of work and then go back through and edit and cut afterwards. With a magazine article, maybe you do a little bit less of that. Maybe you don’t let yourself ramble for 10,000 words because that’ll make it hard to cut. Kelton Reid: On that note, I know a lot of online content creators and novelists in general are working on multiple projects simultaneously. When you say you have your 3,000-word-a-day quota, when you have a manuscript-length project, like a 100,000-word project, but then you also have smaller projects that you’re working on the side, how do you balance the two? One Great Trick to Stay Focused on Multiple Deadlines Adam Skolnick: I think there’s two things. First of all, before you’re going to sit down and write a big piece of work, unless it’s fiction, and even if it is fiction, there’s the research element. For me, I end up in a rhythm where I’m researching and then I’m writing, and then I’m researching and then I’m writing. Then, if I have overlapping deadlines, which does happen, usually it’s when I’m researching something bigger. Then I might take on write-ups or something smaller, or I might have to research for two different things at the same time. I’ve also done things where I’ve researched all day and then at night I’ve written on a different project. That’s happened. Recently, when I had to do a draft of the Playboy story and turn that in prior to the submission date of my book, I did take a few days out of that work on One Breath to dedicate to the magazine article. I’m a one-trick pony. I have a hard time multitasking, to be honest with you. I tend to give everything to what I’m doing at that moment. That’s what I do. For me, multitasking is, “Okay, tomorrow I’m going to do this in the day, and in the night I’m going to do 1,500 words because I can’t do 3,000 because I’m only going to do a night session,” or something like that. I’ll just have that marked in my head. That’s the best multitasking I can probably do. You can’t help it if you’re doing a project that’s three months long. Something else might come up in between that you have to connect to. Usually, what I’ll do is I’ll disconnect from the longer project for a period of time, a couple of days, and do the smaller one. That’s usually what I do because it’s just easier for me to do that then try to do them all at once. Kelton Reid: That single-minded focus is good. I definitely ascribe to that. Subscribe to that? Do I aspire to that? Adam Skolnick: Yes, I don’t know. You could ascribe, aspire, and subscribe to it. Kelton Reid: Just a quick pause to mention that The Writer Files is brought to you by the Rainmaker Platform, the complete website solution for content marketers and online entrepreneurs. Find out more and take a free 14-day test drive at Rainmaker.FM/Platform. Busting the Urban Legend of Jack Kerouac s On the Road Kelton Reid: Speaking of another famous author who published in Playboy: Jack Kerouac actually published in Playboy. He started his journalistic career, and I didn’t know this, as a sports reporter for the New York World Telegram — I’m sure that exists still. Adam Skolnick: Yeah, right. Kelton Reid: He s most well known for writing the 120,000-word novel On The Road in three weeks — I put three weeks in quotes — on this 120-foot long scroll of paper that he famously taped together or whatever. Adam Skolnick: Right. Didn’t Jim Irsay buy the scroll recently? Kelton Reid: I don’t know, the original or what? Adam Skolnick: The owner of the Colts — I think he bought the original scroll. Kelton Reid: That’s wild. I did get a chance to see that scroll actually here in Denver. Adam Skolnick: I bought that hardcover they released. Kelton Reid: Is that right? Adam Skolnick: Yeah, right around the auction time, they finally released it in hardcover. All the real names are in there that he doesn’t use. He uses his own name. He uses William Burroughs’ name. He uses Allen Ginsberg s name, and of course Neal Cassady s name. Kelton Reid: What I found most interesting about the fact that it’s this urban legend, or this creative Mount Everest, that he sat there for three weeks with this single-pointed attention and supposedly wrote this 120,000 word novel in those 20, 21 days on speed. It’s an urban legend that writers hold dear to their hearts. I read recently that that might not be as accurate as we thought it was, because according to Sarah Stodola s book Process: The Writing Lives of Great Authors –which I highly recommend, I love it, it’s pure writer porn in my opinion — Kerouac wrote six drafts of On the Road in the three years leading up to those three weeks where he finally nailed it. When he wasn’t sitting at that typewriter, he was taking notes prolifically, much like you do, journalists do. When he was criss-crossing the country, and meeting all these crazy people, and collecting all these stories, that was part of his process. Really, he wrote that novel over three years time. Adam Skolnick: Yeah, the first draft, you mean. Kelton Reid: The first draft. It wasn’t published for another 6 years. Adam Skolnick: Yeah, I think that everyone loves the wunderkind, genius story, so that’s probably where that came from. Plus, he did sit down there for three weeks and do the scroll and do his 120,000 words. If you read the published version of that, you’ll see there’s no indentations or anything like that, so you can see his manic mind moving and working in a way that you can’t when you read the polished work. There’s something raw there. Of course the polished version is a classic. It s probably one of my favorite books of all time. Why You Shouldn t Compare Yourself to Other Writers Adam Skolnick: Yeah, it can be daunting when you start to compare yourself to other writers. I think that’s what that does. When you hear about that, you’re like, “God, I’m not capable of that. Does that mean I’m not capable of writing a book as good as On the Road. Does that mean I’m not capable of making a living as a writer?” I think those are the kinds of neurotic mind loops that we tend to go into, especially writers who are internal and in their head a lot anyway. At least I am. I think that debunking that myth is really good, because obviously you don’t get to be where he got to at such a young age without incredible work ethic. It’s not about doing speed and sitting down for three weeks, but it’s about doing it all the time. I think that’s what he did, and that’s why he was so great. Kelton Reid: Flexing that muscle — because he had really been writing from an early age. His father introduced him to writing. He had his own printing press. He started early. I think by the time he was 22, his writings amounted to something like 600,000 words. I think even William Burroughs said that when he met Jack Kerouac close to that, he probably had written closer to a million words. He was flexing that muscle, so to speak. That’s a monumental feat, but he was clearly a professional athlete in the sport. Adam Skolnick: Yeah, it’s the classic Gladwell thing now, the 10,000 hours. He had that real young. That’s what did it. Again, it’s no mystery why he was so great. He found his voice young because he was writing so much, and it became so natural for him. Yeah, there probably was something happening creatively by him doing this: “I’m going to sit down for three weeks and do it until it’s done, do it right this one last time.” We can’t completely let go of that myth because there had to be some sort of chemical reaction with the muse that made it so great that time he sat there. Otherwise he wouldn’t have continued to sit there. There’s something to that last gasp, three-week marathon that he pulled off that I think matters. Yeah, I think that’s not what makes him great. What makes him great is the work before and after. Kelton Reid: He was meticulously organized, this guy. He had files and notebooks and kept everything pretty neatly organized. I think a lot of his Beat friends who would visit his apartment would always marvel at the fact that he was just very regimented guy. I think he was also a merchant marine, if I’m not mistaken. Adam Skolnick: Yeah. Kelton Reid: When you’re travelling the world, Adam Skolnick, and you’re working on all these different mediums, you’re probably using not only notebooks, photographs, audio interviews. How to Stay Organized When You Have a Ton of Research Adam Skolnick: I’m not the most organized guy in the world. You are very organized, Kelton Reid. I’m not the most organized. When I first started, because I was a travel writer before I was doing harder core stories — and I still do a lot of travel stories, and obviously the Lonely Planet stuff is all travel-related — I would just use Moleskine notebooks or whatever notebooks I could find on the road if I ran out of notebooks. I kept it all in notebooks, kept all those notebooks on me, and when it came time to do the write-up, I would just go through the notebooks at the time. Then when Lonely Planet started to go to a shared publishing platform, I was part of the experimental phase. One of the higher-ups that came on the road with us — and we did this in Colorado, as a matter of fact — asked me to start taking notes on my phone just to see if I liked it. At first I didn’t like it at all, and I felt like I was losing something in terms of creativity with the mind and the whole idea of the hands and a brain. They’re connected, and if I’m writing something analog then my brain s working differently and somehow opening more organically, which was really probably just my own laziness, not wanting to have to adapt to using this app and using my thumbs. He said, “Just try it for a week, and then you can go back to the notebooks if you want.” Pretty soon after, I found that putting it into a phone right away, uploading it right away, actually made it easier and makes me, a less organized person, more organized. I started to use the phone, and I now use all sorts. I use the phone when I’m interviewing subjects. I’ll use the phone for notes sometimes. I’ll use my notebooks sometimes, depending on the situation, and then I’ll also use the audio recorder. Voice Recorder HD is the app I use, because you can back it up to Dropbox. I do that for some interviews. I’ll use any number of those three things. Then afterward, I’ll have to transcribe the voice interviews. I’ve done most of that myself, although I do farm it out sometimes to transcription services if I’m under the gun, and that’s just something I’ve started to experiment with lately. Then, in terms of the book, which I don’t have call to do this for anything else because if I’m doing a Lonely Planet guide book or a magazine story I could keep everything in one Notes file. I don’t need more than one Notes file, and then I can email that to myself and put it into a Word document. Now all my notes are already transcribed from the notebook, which is my phone, and it’s all right there. Then I can go through it and highlight what I need and look through it. I don’t have to do much. Although, when I’m writing a magazine story, what I’ll do is I’ll outline the story, and then I’ll go through those notes and take the chunks that I think relate to the subject or the turn in the story that I’m working. I’ll slot that into that piece in the outline so I have it all there for me. That’s how I’ll organize it right before I do the work. In terms of this book, there were literally hundreds of interviews. I couldn’t tell you right now because I haven’t counted them all out, but it’s over 100 interviews. I’m interviewing different people about different things and different places. Then I started to slot them into their own separate document. I’m just using Word documents, and I’ll just slot in those notes or that transcribed interview into the North Carolina pile, or the New York City pile, or the Russia pile, or the Sardinia pile, that kind of stuff. That’s how I did that. Then when it came down to the outline, again with the book, I did more detailed outline, and I started slotting in those big slabs of notes into those sections. So when I started working on it, it was all there for me. That’s how it worked. I probably have 1,000 Word pages of notes to work on. Kelton Reid: You’ve just got this huge raw block of clay, so to speak, that you start molding from there. You’ve got to start with something, and that’s pretty amazing. Last quick question for Adam Skolnick: can you give us a couple recommendations for favorite non-fiction reads you read recently? Adam Skolnick: I read Behind the Beautiful Forevers, which is beautiful. Katherine Boo, I believe, is the author. It s a beautiful book about the Mumbai slums. Zeitoun — a few years ago I read that. it’s one of my favorite nonfiction books of all time. That’s about a handyman who was caught in the floods in New Orleans after Katrina. It s a beautiful book by Dave Eggers, and I highly recommend that. Kelton Reid: Great one. Adam Skolnick: Then Harry Potter is my favorite non-fiction book I’ve ever read — J.K Rowling. Amazing how she embedded herself into that world. I found it magical … oh wait. Kelton Reid: I’m not familiar. Adam Skolnick: Are you not familiar with that work? Kelton Reid:Adam Skolnick: Thanks for having me. Kelton Reid: We will speak with you in another episode very soon. I appreciate your time. Remember, every great sculpture starts with a raw block of clay. Keep working, and eventually it will start to look like something. Thanks for flipping through Adam’s file with me. If you enjoyed this episode of The Writer Files, feel free to leave a comment or a question on the website at Writerfiles.FM. You can also easily subscribe to the show on iTunes and get updates on new episodes. Please leave a rating or a review on iTunes to help other writers find us. You can find me on Twitter @KeltonReid. You can find Adam @adamskolnick. You can find more Writer Porn @writerporn. Cheers. Talk to you next week.

Director Rufus Norris and actress Meera Syal discuss Behind the Beautiful Forevers, a new play by David Hare based on the book by Katherine Boo. Find out more and book tickets here: http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/shows/behind-the-beautiful-forevers

Director Rufus Norris and actress Meera Syal discuss Behind the Beautiful Forevers, a new play by David Hare based on the book by Katherine Boo. Find out more and book tickets here: http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/shows/behind-the-beautiful-forevers

The New York Times recently sent theater critic Charles Isherwood on a trip to London, where he saw Shakespeare, quasi-Shakespeare and Kristin Scott Thomas onstage. While there, Isherwood took note of the theatrical import-export balance between Broadway and the West End. • Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins at the Menier Chocolate Factory. • Shakespeare's Henry IV at the Donmar Warehouse. • Mike Bartlett’s King Charles III at the Wyndham's Theatre. • David Hare's Behind the Beautiful Forevers at the National Theatre. • Sophocles's Electra at the Old Vic Theatre.

This is a background pack for the National Theatre's 2014 production of Behind The Beautiful Forevers by David Hare. Included in this pack is a synopsis of the play, a rehearsal diary and interviews with the cast, featuring Meera Syal.

As Yet Unnamed London Theatre Podcast 23-Nov-2014 With T R P Watson  - Gareth James - Julie Raby - Plays Discussed Wildefire - Hampstead Theatre  [00:10]   JOHN - Lyttelton Theatre  [14:49]   Behind the Beautiful Forevers - Olivier Theatre  [20:12]

London's Wellcome Institute has a new exhibition entitled The Institute of Sexology which it describes as "a candid exploration of the most publicly discussed of private acts". How will our reviewers tiptoe gently around the explicit nature of what's on show? What We Do In The Shadows is a New Zealand vampire comedy film about a group of bloodsucking flatmates (a 'dracumentary' if you will) - who does the washing-up in the house of the undead? Behind The Beautiful Forevers is David Hare's new play at London's National Theatre, based on the non-fiction book of the same name by Pulitzer Prize winning author Katherine Boo. It deals with life death and hope in a Mumbai undercity Robert Edric is an acclaimed British novelist whose latest book explores the life of Branwell Bronte - brother of the more famous sisters - whose life couldn't match theirs. Legacy is a new Danish TV police programme. What is it about the Scandi Noir genre that keeps on gripping UK audiences? Tom Sutcliffe is joined by Helen Lewis Pat Kane and Amanda Craig. The producer is Oliver Jones.

The shortlisted authors for the 2014 Costa Book Awards are announced. Critic Stephanie Merritt comments on the authors chosen in five categories: novel, first novel, poetry, biography and children's fiction. Meera Syal discusses her latest stage role in Behind the Beautiful Forevers, based on the book by Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Katherine Boo, about life in the shadow of Mumbai's luxury hotels. The final part of Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games trilogy, Mockingjay, has been split in two for the film version. Sophia McDougall reviews Mockingjay: Part 1. Peter Bazalgette, Chair of Arts Council England, discusses his campaign to raise the profile of arts in the UK as the political parties write their manifestos for the General Election next May.

Jonathan Shainin, senior editor at The Caravan.   "Working in an environment that's foreign, where you have to kind of think through a lot of things from the ground up...I find it to be really stimulating to have to interrogate the assumptions that you have as an editor about what's interesting and what's not interesting, what's a good story and what's a bad story, what's the story that's been done a million times already. When you get out of a place that is your place, you have to kind of think through some things in a fresh way. And that can be really productive."   Show notes: @jonathanshainin The Caravan The Caravan on Longform [8:00] The National [13:00] India: A Million Mutinies Now (V.S. Naipul • 1991) [pdf] [23:45] "Burger Queen" A profile of April Bloomfield. (Lauren Collins • New Yorker • Nov 2010) [29:00] "Falling Man"A profile of Manmohan Singh. (Vinod K Jose • The Caravan • Oct 2011) [29:00] "The Confidence Man" The crumbled cricket empire of Lalit Modi. (Samanth Subramanian • The Caravan • Mar 2011) [40:30] Behind the Beautiful Forevers (Katherine Boo • 2012) [41:00] "Notes from the Undercity" Review of Behind the Beautiful Forevers. (Jonathan Shainin • Bookforum • Feb 2012) [49:30] "The Departed" The return home of Kashmir's disillusioned militants. (Mehboob Jeelani • The Caravan • Sep 2012)

Weekly JourneywithJesus.net postings, read by Daniel B. Clendenin. Essay: *When the Trite is Also True* for Sunday, 13 January 2013; book review: *Behind the Beautiful Forevers; Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity* by Katherine Boo (2012); film review: *Take Me Home* (2011); poem review: *Now I Become Myself* by May Sarton.

Slate critics Dan Kois, Hanna Rosin, and Emily Bazelon discuss Katherine Boo’s National Book Award-winning story of life in a Mumbai slum. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Anne McElvoy talks to the Pulitzer Prize winner, Katherine Boo about her book, Behind the Beautiful Forevers. Jackie Wullschlager reviews the literally luminous new show at Tate Liverpool which features the late work of Twombly, Turner and Monet; one of our New Generation thinkers, Timothy Secret, reflects on how we mourn our dead and Uta Frith, Harry Collins and Marcus Chown explore a new twist on the legacy of one of the great scientific minds of the 20th Century, Alan Turing.