New Books Network Podcast

Cover Story September 14, 2021

Covering Donald Trump

A Conversation with Allen Salkin

Allen Salkin

Hosted by Agata Popeda

What's it like to cover Donald Trump? In this episode, veteran American journalist Allen Salkin explains. For over three decades, Salkin has written about many things for many high-profile publications, including …

Cover Story August 31, 2021

Local Long-Form Journalism

An Interview with David Schmalz

David Schmalz

Hosted by Agata Popeda

David Schmalz is a staff writer at the Monterey County Weekly, where his longform pieces have won numerous awards from the California News Publishers Association, including a first place for …

Cover Story August 17, 2021

Covering New York Politics

A Conversation with David Freedlander

David Freedlander

Hosted by Agata Popeda

David Freedlander is a veteran New York City-based journalist. He writes long-form features about politics and the arts, people and ideas, and has appeared in New York Magazine, Bloomberg, Rolling …

Cover Story August 3, 2021

Sarah Hepola on Drinking in a "Dry" Texas County

Sarah Hepola

Hosted by Agata Popeda

Welcome to Cover Story, a podcast by New Books Network devoted to long form journalism. Today, we are talking to Texas-based writer Sarah Hepola. Hepola is most known from her …

Cover Story July 20, 2021

Knitting and Politics in the Age of Trump

A Discussion with Carrie Battan

Carrie Battan

Hosted by Agata Popeda

Today we are talking to a New Yorker staff writer Carrie Battan about her piece from March of this year "How Politics Tested Ravelry and the Crafting Community" – about …

Cover Story July 13, 2021

What Can Wittgenstein Teach Us About Raising Our Kids?

A Discussion with Ryan Ruby

Ryan Ruby

Hosted by Agata Popeda

Ryan Ruby is a writer and translator from Los Angeles, California. His fiction and criticism have appeared in The New York Review of Books, The Paris Review Daily, Conjunctions, n+1 …

Cover Story June 22, 2021

No Choice: Why Is It So Hard to Get an Abortion in the South?

A Discussion with Journalist Becca Andrews

Becca Andrews

Hosted by Agata Popeda

Today we are talking with Becca Andrews, a journalist at Mother Jones, where she writes about reproductive rights and gender. The story we discuss is “When Choice is 221 Miles …

Cover Story June 8, 2021

Writing Engaged History

An Interview with Matthew Karp

Matthew Karp

Hosted by Agata Popeda

Matthew Karp is a historian of the U.S. Civil War era and its relationship to the nineteenth-century world. He received his Ph.D. in History from the University of Pennsylvania in …

Cover Story May 25, 2021

Free Tax Prep That's Not Free

A Discussion with ProPublica's Justin Elliott

Justin Elliot

Hosted by Agata Popeda

In this episode, we are talking to ProPublica investigative journalist Justin Elliott. Justin has been with ProPublica since 2012 and writes about business and economics, as well as money and …

Cover Story May 18, 2021

N+1: "Like Partisan Review, but Not Dead"

A Discussion with Mark Krotov

Mark Krotov

Hosted by Agata Popeda

In this episode, we are talking to Mark Krotov, the publisher and co-editor of n + 1, a magazine of politics, essays and fiction described once: “like Partisan Review, but …

Cover Story May 11, 2021

Can we Disagree Online Respectfully?

A Discussion with Ian Leslie

Ian Leslie

Hosted by Agata Popeda

In this episode, we are talking to a British writer Ian Leslie, a journalist and author of acclaimed books on human behavior. His latest book, Conflicted: How Productive Disagreements Lead …

Cover Story May 4, 2021

The Work of Editing a Magazine

A Discussion with Chris Lehmann

Chris Lehmann

Hosted by Agata Popeda

In this episode, we are talking to writer and editor Chris Lehmann, an editor of The Baffler, a former managing editor of The New Republic and a former editor of …

Cover Story April 27, 2021

Can Journalism Be Saved?

A Discussion with Nicholas Lemann

Hosted by Agata Popeda

There is no better person to start this journey than with journalist Nicholas Lemann, who has been observing the industry, also long-form journalism, for almost 50 years. Lemann started at …