Bonus | How to Write This Book
One Year
Slate Podcasts
4.4 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 10 June 2019
⏱️ 20 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this excerpt from the second bonus episode of The Queen, Dan Kois talks to Josh Levin about the process of writing the reporting-intensive book the podcast series is based on. They’re joined by a panel of three distinguished authors, who share their own lessons about what it takes to write a book-length investigation: David Grann, a New Yorker staff writer and the author of Killers of the Flower Moon; James Forman Jr., winner of the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for his book, Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America; and Eliza Griswold, winner of the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for her book, Amity and Prosperity: One Family and the Fracturing of America. To hear the full episode, join Slate Plus.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You're listening ad-free on Amazon Music. |
| 0:03.6 | Hello, this is Josh Levine. |
| 0:05.8 | The Queen was made possible with support from Slate Plus members. |
| 0:09.5 | To thank those listeners for their support, we've made two special bonus episodes that are available exclusively to our members. |
| 0:16.4 | You're about to hear an excerpt from the second bonus episode. |
| 0:19.8 | It's a roundtable discussion that explores |
| 0:21.6 | what it's like to write a reporting intensive book like The Queen. To listen to the full |
| 0:26.4 | episode, sign up for Slate Plus at slate.com slash plus. It's just $35 for the first year, |
| 0:32.7 | and every membership includes ad-free versions of all Slate podcasts and other great benefits. Thanks for |
| 0:39.2 | listening and thanks to our members whose support helps make our journalism possible. |
| 1:00.7 | Hello and welcome to this very special bonus episode of The Queen. |
| 1:02.2 | I'm Dan Cois. |
| 1:06.5 | I'm the editor of Slate's books coverage and the author of How to Be a Family, which will be published in September. |
| 1:10.7 | I am joined here in Slate's DC studio by my colleague Josh Levine. |
| 1:11.2 | Hi, Josh. |
| 1:11.9 | Hey, Dan. |
| 1:17.9 | So as listeners of the podcast know, this series is a companion to Josh's book, The Queen, |
| 1:20.0 | The Forgotten Life Behind an American Myth. |
| 1:24.3 | Josh spent years reporting the story, which first appeared in Slate in 2013. |
| 1:29.4 | Now, for many nonfiction writers and journalists, a book like The Queen, you know, a full-length work of investigative reporting, is sort of the gold standard of projects, the thing you want |
| 1:35.0 | to have the chance to write at least once in your career. |
| 1:37.8 | But how does writing such a thing actually happen? |
... |
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