The Creative Nonfiction Podcast with Brendan O'Meara Episode 522: Anthony DePalma Won't Wear Headphones on a Walk
“Not to confuse journalism with newspapers. Newspapers are one set of communication methods. But it's certainly not the only one. If they have the right mindset, and that's what I try to get them to do, there are so many more opportunities. You can go out and do a podcast, or you can do a newsletter. You can't think of it as I need to work at The New York Times. You have to think of it as I need — I need — to tell stories, and I've got this curiosity.”
Anthony DePalma is a journalist and professor at Columbia University. He’s the author of several books, his latest being On This Ground: Hardship and Hope at the Toughest Prep School in America. It’s published by Mariner Books.
He spent 22 years as a reporter for The New York Times, and another 8 as a stringer for them, so, let’s do the math … that’s 30 years. He reported a lot on Mexico and Cuba, as well as Albania, Guyana, and Suriname. You can find him at anthonydepalma.com and on the Facebooks and Substacks, at anthontyrdepalma
Anthony DePalma has been all over the world telling true stories. He’s the author of The Cubans, City of Dust, The Man Who Invented Fidel, and Here: A Biography of the New American Continent.
In this conversation we talk about:
- How not to confuse journalism with newspapers
- The NEED to tell stories
- The stunning lack of curiosity among young journalists
- Not wearing headphones on walks
- Accelerated intimacy
- Challenge of being of satisfied with the writing
- Still being a WIP
- What to do when you can’t be everywhere at once
- Cutting 30-40% of his ms
- Radical pragmatism
- What makes St. Benedict’s tough
- And how grafting apple trees is like writing
Show notes: brendanomeara.com