The Sunday Long Read Podcast
Episodes
Tablet's editor on opinion writing and Gen Z’s newfound love of print
13 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In a new Sunday Long Read podcast episode, Alana Newhouse, the editor-in-chief of Tablet Magazine, unpacks one of the magazine’s latest cover storie...
Journalist Bradley Hope talks narrative writing and the future of AI
17 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In a new Q&A with The Sunday Long Read, journalist Bradley Hope chats about his recent story for WIRED: a deep dive into the deadly sinking of the sup...
“Proximity is power” : Max Blau on mixing investigative and feature writing (Live at UGA)
26 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Sunday Long Read co-founder Jacob Feldman talks with ProPublica’s Max Blau in a wide-ranging conversation about his piece “I Don’t Want to Die”...
What does Hampton Inn’s popularity say about us, with Bloomberg’s Patrick Clark
29 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Sunday Long Read chats with Bloomberg’s Patrick Clark about one of his latest articles: a deep dive into the hotel chain Hampton Inn, and why it...
Thinking about your sun exposure this summer? Journalist Rowan Jacobsen has answers
12 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
As summer officially kicks off, Behind the Story host Amanda Ulrich chats with fellow journalist Rowan Jacobsen about his in-depth reporting on sunlig...
Talking ’60s rock and the art of the celebrity interview with Geoff Edgers
23 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Behind the Story host and journalist Amanda Ulrich chats with The Washington Post’s Geoff Edgers about everything music and pop culture — from Edg...
Behind the Story : Rhana Natour on the plight of Palestinian child amputees
25 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
SLR podcast host and writer Amanda Ulrich talks with fellow journalist Rhana Natour about her National Magazine Award-winning story, "Coming to Americ...
Behind the Story: Writer Natalia Galicza unveils the horrors of solitary confinement
28 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Host and journalist Amanda Ulrich chats with fellow writer Natalia Galicza of Deseret Magazine about her reporting on solitary confinement, the future...
Behind The Story : James Robenalt
18 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In a new piece for Vanity Fair, author and presidential historian James Robenalt, who has written about commanders in chief from Warren G. Harding to ...
Behind The Story : Caity Weaver
11 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The first time Caity Weaver, a staff writer at The New York Times Magazine, heard about the legend of Zozobra, she stumbled upon it almost by accident...
SLR Podcast Classics : Wright Thompson & Seth Wickersham
29 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This holiday season, we are rereleasing some of our favorite Sunday Long Read Podcast episodes of all time. A few years ago, SLR cofounder Don Van Nat...
SLR Podcast Classics : Jeanne Marie Laskas
22 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This holiday season, we are rereleasing some of our favorite Sunday Long Read Podcast episodes of all time. Around five years ago, SLR cofounder Jacob...
Behind The Story : Lizzie Presser
11 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In one of her latest longform articles for ProPublica, reporter Lizzie Presser tells the story of teenagers caught on opposite sides of the drug trade...
Behind The Story: ‘What’s the Deal with Republicans and Steakhouses?’
02 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Why do steakhouses have such a stranglehold on Republicans in Washington D.C.? Washingtonian's Jessica Sidman joined one of the party members to find ...
What’s Truly a “True Story” in Hollywood (with Naomi Despres & John Gatins)
26 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In March, after years of work, producer Naomi Despres and screenwriter John Gatins released “Little Wing,” the story of a young pigeon racer, firs...
Texas Monthly's adaptation boom (with Megan Creydt)
12 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Over the last few years, Texas Monthly has had a booming success on the big and small screen, turning impeccable stories into films and TV series. In ...
Speaking To The Nerds (with Marc Bernardin)
28 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A self-described “Star War Kid” and “nerd,” Marc Bernardin left journalism a few years ago to follow his dream: becoming a television writer. ...
The Art of Big Audience Storytelling (with Jessica Pressler)
13 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In a span of only three years, two of Jessica Pressler’s New York Magazine stories ended up on screen, a journey that involved a playdate with Julia...
Take a Joke, Episode 4: Edith Zimmerman
09 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Edith Zimmerman rocketed to media stardom early in her career. Her editing of the influential and hilarious website The Hairpin got her a place on For...
Take A Joke, Episode 3: Matt Shearer
04 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Award-winning radio reporter Matt Shearer is making Boston’s WBZ station—and by extension, local journalism—cool again. The thirty-six-year-old ...
Take A Joke, Episode 2: Dina Gusovsky
28 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Dina Gusovsky was an award-winning investigative reporter before she put that career aside to pursue comedy in 2016, joining Late Night with Seth Meye...
Take a Joke, Episode 1: Maureen Dowd
21 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to the first episode of Take a Joke, a Sunday Long Read podcast series on the captivating world of humor. Our first guest, Maureen Dowd, has b...
The Art of Remembering, Episode 4: Garrett Graff
03 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome back to The Art of Remembering, a Sunday Long Read podcast series on the fascinating world of obituaries. Our fourth guest is magazine writer ...
The Art of Remembering, Episode 3: James Hagerty
20 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome back to The Art of Remembering, a Sunday Long Read podcast series on the fascinating world of obituaries. Our third guest, James Hagerty, is t...
The Art of Remembering, Episode 2: Kathleen McElroy
13 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome back to The Art of Remembering, a Sunday Long Read podcast series on the fascinating world of obituaries. Our second guest, Kathleen McElroy, ...
The Art of Remembering, Episode 1: Margalit Fox
29 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to the first episode of The Art of Remembering, a Sunday Long Read podcast series on the fascinating world of obituaries. Our first guest, Mar...
Episode 42: We're back!
09 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome back to the long-dormant Sunday Long Read podcast! We're reviving our audio presence with a discussion between Don and Emily Kaplan, who wrote...
Episode 41: Tim Urban
08 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Tim Urban is a popular blogger and the co-founder of “Wait But Why,” a site that discusses a wide variety of topics including picking the right ca...
Episode 40: Caity Weaver
24 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Caity Weaver is a favorite of the Sunday Long Read, appearing in multiple newsletters every year, always giving us thoughtful, clever, and enjoyable s...
Episode 39: Deborah and James Fallows
10 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
There are few couples like Deborah and James Fallows, who have spent more than half a decade talking to people and visiting communities across America...
Episode 38: Charles Duhigg
27 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Charles Duhigg is a 2013 Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, the author of The Power of Habit, and a magazine writer who most recently published an in-d...
Episode 37: Rowan Jacobsen
22 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
"I kind of think of myself as a nature writer disguised as a food writer. Food is a great way to write about plants and animals because everyone has a...
Episode 36: Jessica Pressler
13 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
"If you don’t want to tell me something it makes me very interested in what it is.” Jessica Pressler is a staff writer at New York magazine and jo...
Episode 35: Jessica Contrera
05 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Jessica Contrera covers a wide range of topics as a narrative reporter for the Washington Post and in this week's podcast she chats with Don about her...
Episode 34: Jeanne Marie Laskas
26 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The best-selling author, GQ correspondent, and National Magazine Award Finalist is our latest guest. Laskas discusses her books and articles including...
Episode 33: Will Leitch
28 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Will Leitch founded Deadspin nearly 14 years ago. Since 2008, Leitch has written and worked outside of the site, most recently as a contributing edito...
Episode 32: Anne Helen Petersen
24 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Anne Helen Petersen, although she's a superb culture writer for BuzzFeed News, still gets a little nauseous at the prospect of talking to people for h...
Episode 31: Gideon Lewis-Kraus
27 Jan 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Gideon Lewis-Kraus is a writer at large for the New York Times Magazine, a contributing writer at WIRED, and a contributing editor at Harper’s. He’...
Episode 30: Tommy Tomlinson
13 Jan 2019
Contributed by Lukas
"The clock doesn't run out until the very end," says Tommy Tomlinson, author of the new book "The Elephant in the Room: One fat man's quest to Get Sma...
Episode 29: Rachel Sklar
21 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
If you worked in media in New York in the mid 2000s, you read the Fishbowl on MediaBistro. Our podcast guest today is the writer of that indispensable...
Episode 28: Ben Smith
14 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Fresh off his guest-editing turn, BuzzFeed News editor-in-chief Ben Smith chatted with Don about how the term "Ben Smith-ing" came into being, why he ...
Episode 27: Elaina Plott
16 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
“It seemed like everyone knew what to think but me.” Elaina Plott landed not one but two stories in the Sunday Long Read newsletter last week. Th...
Episode 26: Albert Samaha
09 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
“There are two ways I view toughness and the virtue of it.” BuzzFeed News reporter Albert Samaha has a new book out about a young football team in...
Episode 25: Maria Bustillos
26 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Maria Bustillos is the current editor in chief of Popula, an alternative news and culture magazine that recently launched on the blockchain-based Civi...
Episode 24: Jo Piazza
12 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Jo Piazza is a journalist, podcaster, author of fiction and nonfiction books, and writer of personal essays. Her latest book—her eighth—is a novel...
Episode 23: Brett Michael Dykes
07 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Through a mixture of humorous tales and handy insights, Uproxx editor-in-chief Brett Michael Dykes explains to Don how he turned a few viral posts on ...
Episode 22: Glynnis MacNicol
07 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Glynnis MacNicol wisely says about writing that "not telling the truth leads to bad writing." She's spot on about that and quite a few other things in...
Episode 21: Seymour Hersh
07 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
A reporter's reporter, Sy Hersh characterizes his work this way: "I'm constantly walking into editors’ offices and throwing a dead rat full of lice ...
Episode 20: Amy Chozick
07 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Amy Chozick moved to New York after college with nothing but a set of clips from her college newspaper and now, 17 years later, is The New York Times...
Episode 19: Steve Almond
07 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Steve Almond says of writing: “The idea is that you are trying to show the reader somebody whose life is in disequilibrium and who is struggling wit...
Episode 18: Rachel Syme
07 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Where is Rachel Syme's favorite people-watching perch in New York City? What would her ideal beat be? One of our favorite profile writers—and a soon...
Episode 17: Shea Serrano
07 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
DVN: How many writers are you mentoring right now? SS: I think like 600. Don and Shea discuss how he first resorted to writing, how comments got him...
Episode 16: Atossa Araxia Abrahamian
07 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
"What kind of globalization should we want? There are lots of different versions of it, and we have a particular version that at this moment is pissin...
Episode 15: Geoff Edgers
07 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
"I'm not that special," Washington Post national arts reporter Geoff Edgers says. "All I do is call a million people." That's how he's written unforge...
Episode 14: Alex Belth
07 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
After writing the Oral History of Inside Sports for The Sunday Long Read, and as he launches a new journalism archive project debuting today, Alex cat...
Episode 13: Michael Kruse
07 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
"We're all a product of our path to the current moment, and my path is a little bit different," Michael says. He has worked his way up from covering e...
Episode 12: Sally Jenkins
07 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Washington Post columnist and four-time NYT best-selling author Sally Jenkins recounts the advice Billie Jean King gave her about dealing with sexism;...
Episode 11: S.L. Price
07 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Longtime friends Don and Scott discuss how Price started going by S.L., the changes they've seen in American newsrooms, and how writing requires being...
Episode 10: Kevin Van Valkenburg
07 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Kevin Van Valkenburg is a senior writer at ESPN The Magazine and ESPN.com, where he writes primarily about football and golf. Prior to joining ESPN, h...
Episode 9: Wright Thompson and Seth Wickersham
07 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Seth Wickersham and Wright Thompson both write for ESPN The Magazine and have been discussing stories since their time together at the University of M...
Episode 8: Souad Mekhennet
07 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Souad Mekhennet is a national security correspondent for The Washington Post and the author of the national best-selling, "I Was Told To Come Alone: M...
Episode 7: Chris Jones
07 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In the middle of his Twitter hiatus, two-time National Magazine Award winner Chris Jones (left) chats with Don Van Natta Jr. Jones shares behind-the-s...
Episode 6: Taffy Brodesser-Akner
07 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
It was about time The Sunday Long Read Podcast caught up with Taffy Brodesser-Akner, who extended her lead in list appearances this week. It's a longe...
Episode 5: Christopher Goffard
07 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Christopher Goffard, now at The Los Angeles Times, is an experienced journalist of over 20 years. Most recently, he's the reporter, writer and voice o...
Episode 4: Ana Menendez
07 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Award-winning author Ana Menendez is called “a triple-threat” by Don in our 4th Sunday Long Read podcast—she’s been a reporter, a columnist an...
Episode 3: Jacob Feldman
07 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Sunday Long Read producer Jacob Feldman joins Don to talk about his latest story on the NFL and discuss the podcast project.
Episode 2: Michael Graff
07 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Michael N. Graff, an award-winning writer and editor from North Carolina, has appeared four times in The Sunday Long Read, including last week when Do...
Episode 1: Jody Avirgan
07 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
For nearly 30 minutes, Don chatted with Jody about how the 30 for 30 Podcasts idea was born, the critically acclaimed first 30 for 30 Podcasts episode...