Logroll

This was a hugely revealing conversation with David Blum, who now works for Audible, but once wrote books.

We started off talking about David's early journalism career, including the famous 1985 New York Magazine article about the Brat Pack, a phrase he coined.

He then wrote the book Flash in the Pan which came out in 1992. It was about a New York restaurant, invested in by actor Matt Dillon. For 15 months David embedded himself at the restaurant as it was launched and slowly failed.

We talked about why the book didn't sell well, the impact on his career, the reaction of those he was writing about, and his career afterwards, including the book having a second life after being championed by Anthony Bourdain, who called the book "painfully hilarious".

We also talked about his techniques, how he got dialogue down, how he gained access not just at the restaurant but to the Brat Pack, and his use of raw material on the page.

You can buy Flash in the Pan here:

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/flash-in-the-pan-david-blum/3506245?ean=9781439193778

David recommended George Orwell's Down and Out in Paris and London, which is here:

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/down-and-out-in-paris-and-london-george-orwell/4817584?ean=9780008442651

And finally, my books are here:

https://uk.bookshop.org/contributors/andrew-hankinson

Thanks for listening.

For this episode I spoke to American writer Jo Ann Beard about her latest collection Festival Days and her previous collection The Boys of My Youth.

We talked about fact, fiction, creative writing, journalism, how her experience of a workplace shooting in which people died changed her writing career, writing for the New Yorker, writing about death or proximity to death, how she feels about using people's stories, and how she constructs her work piece by piece, very, very slowly.

I found out about Jo Ann's work from William Fiennes, who told me about an essay called The Fourth State of Matter, which is included in The Boys of My Youth and was published by the New Yorker. Here is a link to that essay:

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1996/06/24/the-fourth-state-of-matter

You can buy Festival Days here:

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/festival-days-jo-ann-beard/5000893?ean=9780316497220

You can buy The Boys of My Youth here:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Boys-My-Youth-Ann-Beard/dp/0316085251

She recommended Mothers of Sparta by Dawn Davies:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mothers-Sparta-Memoir-Dawn-Davies/dp/125013370X

The other book she recommended was The Tender Land by Kathleen Finneran:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tender-Land-Family-Love-Story/dp/0618340742

Finally, you can buy my books here:

https://uk.bookshop.org/contributors/andrew-hankinson

Thank you for listening.

For this episode I spoke to Sam Knight about his book The Premonitions Bureau, published by Faber.

It's nonfiction, about a phsyciatrist, a journalist, and an experiment they ran for a while to see whether people could predict the future. I won't give the ending away.

You can buy Sam's book here:

https://uk.bookshop.org/books/the-premonitions-bureau-a-sunday-times-bestseller/9780571357567

The book he recommended is The Storm is Here by Luke Mogelson:

https://uk.bookshop.org/books/the-storm-is-here-america-on-the-brink/9781529418712

And you can buy my books here:

https://uk.bookshop.org/contributors/andrew-hankinson

Thanks for listening.

In this episode I interview Michela Wrong about her book Do Not Disturb, which is about the murder of Rwanda's former head of intelligence Patrick Karegeya.

We talked about her interviews with people who had been asked to murder Karegeya, what it was like to criticise Rwandan president Paul Kagame, and how it felt when he responded on national television. We also discussed her experience reporting on the genocide and how the book addressed journalism's ability to report on such events.

You can buy Michela's books here:

https://uk.bookshop.org/contributors/michela-wrong

The book she recommended was Naples '44 by Norman Lewis:

https://uk.bookshop.org/books/naples-44-an-intelligence-officer-in-the-italian-labyrinth/9780907871729

And finally is a link to my books:

https://uk.bookshop.org/contributors/andrew-hankinson

Thanks for listening.

After a bit of a wait, finally this is the Adam Hochschild episode. Adam teaches journalism at Berkeley, which we talk a bit about as well as some of his other books.

The focus though was King Leopold's Ghost, published in 1998, which is about Belgian's use of slavery for their rubber and ivory trade in the Congo in the 19th and 20th centuries.

We focused on how he researched the book, including his finding of long-forgotten books in libraries.

We talked a bit about Russia, so worth noting that the conversation took place a year ago, before the invasion of Ukraine.

You can buy Adam's books here: https://uk.bookshop.org/contributors/adam-hochschild

The book he recommended was Michael Kazin's War Against War: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/War-Against-War/Michael-Kazin/9781476705910

Finally, here is a link to my books: https://uk.bookshop.org/contributors/andrew-hankinson

Thanks for listening.

In this episode I interviewed American journalist and lawyer Alia Malek, whose work has been published by the New York Times and New Yorker.

I spoke to her about her 2017 book The Home That Was Our Country, which is partly about moving to her grandmother's flat in Damascus from 2011 to 2013, but also about Syria.

We talked about the murder of one of her relatives when she was on a childhood visit to Syria, the disappearance of people in Damascus over the years, and the descent into war.

We also talked about how she wrote the book, not just the reportage, but also using material written by her family, interviewing her family, and researching the history of the country.

You can buy Alia's book here: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/the-home-that-was-our-country-a-memoir-of-syria/9781568588445

The article mentioned which she recently wrote for the New York Times is here: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/25/magazine/germany-trial-syria.html

She mentioned two nonfiction books. The first was Law Versus Power by Wolfgang Kaleck (with a forward by Edward Snowden), which is here: https://bit.ly/3QgBNni

The brilliantly titled Maeve Higgins book, Tell Everyone On This Train I Love Them, is here: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/tell-everyone-on-this-train-i-love-them/9780143135869

Finally, here is a link to my books: https://uk.bookshop.org/contributors/andrew-hankinson

Thank you for listening.

In this episode I talked to Jon Ronson about his book So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed. We covered his career leading up to the book, how he nailed down the idea, how a book deal works for an author at his level, and what the impact of the book was.

You can buy all his books here:

https://uk.bookshop.org/contributors/jon-ronson

Jon also recommended Craig Brown’s book about the Beatles which you can buy here:

https://uk.bookshop.org/books/one-two-three-four-the-beatles-in-time/9780008340032

And finally you can also buy my books here:

https://uk.bookshop.org/contributors/andrew-hankinson

Thank you for listening!

This episode I spoke to New York Times writer Jon Mooallem about his book This is Chance!

The book is about a huge but little-known earthquake in Alaska. I talked to Jon about why he chose the story, how he got so much rich material, and how people have responded to the book. We also spoke about his earlier work, including his first book, Wild Ones.

You can buy Jon's books here:

https://bookshop.org/contributors/jon-mooallem

He also recommended Girl in a Band by Kim Gordon, which you can buy here:

https://uk.bookshop.org/books/girl-in-a-band/9780571349661

And here’s a link to my books:

https://uk.bookshop.org/contributors/andrew-hankinson

Thanks for listening.

In this episode of Logroll I spoke to Cathy Rentzenbrink about her book The Last Act of Love.

The book is about her brother, Matty, who was hit by a car, and what happened afterwards. We talked about her early attempts to write about it, her approach to memoir, and the difficulty of memory.

You can buy Cathy's books, including her new one, Write It All Down, here:

https://uk.bookshop.org/contributors/cathy-rentzenbrink

She also recommended Giving Up the Ghost by Hilary Mantel, which you can buy here:

https://uk.bookshop.org/books/giving-up-the-ghost-a-memoir/9780007142729

Finally, here’s a link to my books:

https://uk.bookshop.org/contributors/andrew-hankinson

Thanks for listening.

In this episode of Logroll I spoke to Carl Anka, writer for the Athletic, about his book You Are A Champion, which he wrote with professional footballer Marcus Rashford. It is a book for children, so we talked about getting the tone right, as well as lots about how you get hired for a project like this, and how to balance the needs of the writer, famous co-author and publisher. It was recorded way back in summer of 2020, so some of the football references are dated.

You can buy Carl and Marcus’s book, You Are A Champion, here:

https://uk.bookshop.org/books/you-are-a-champion-how-to-be-the-best-you-can-be/9781529068177

He also recommended Stuff You Should Know by Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant, which you can buy here:

https://uk.bookshop.org/books/stuff-you-should-know-an-incomplete-compendium-of-mostly-interesting-things/9781409199380

Finally, here’s a link to my books:

https://uk.bookshop.org/contributors/andrew-hankinson

Thanks for listening.