BROADCASTS.com

Taffy Brodesser-Akner is a staff writer at the New York Times and the author of Fleishman Is in Trouble: A Novel.\n\n\u201cAs a profile writer, the skill I have is getting in the room and staying in the room until someone is like, \u2018Why is this bitch still in the room? Get her out of there?\u2019 It\u2019s a journalistic skill that is not a fluffy skill. There are people who are always actively trying to prevent your story, prevent you from seeing it, from seeing the things that would be good to see. There\u2019s a lot of convincing, comforting and listening going on. And there\u2019s a lot of dealing with the fact that somebody in the middle of talking to you can suddenly decide that you are the worst. Those things are very tense and it\u2019s a specific skill that I have that can defray all those things. Or it lets me stay.\u201d\n\nThanks to MailChimp, Netflix, and Pitt Writers for sponsoring this week's episode.\n\n\n\n\n@taffyakner\n\n\ntaffyakner.com\n\n\nBrodesser-Akner on Longform\n\n\n[01:11] Fleishman Is in Trouble: A Novel (Random House \u2022 2019)\n\n\n[02:31] They Will Have to Die Now: Mosul and the Fall of the Caliphate\n (James Verini \u2022 W. W. Norton & Company \u2022 2019)\n\n\n[03:50] Taffy Brodessor-Akner on the Longform Podcast\n\n\n[05:07] \u201cHow Goop\u2019s Haters Made Gwyneth Paltrow\u2019s Company Worth $250 Million\u201d(New York Times \u2022 2018)\n\n\n[06:21] Brodesser-Akner's New York Times Archive\n\n\n[06:23] Brodesser-Akner's GQ Archive\n\n\n[07:10] \u201cTaffy Brodesser-Akner Really, Really, Really Wanted to Write This Profile\u201d (Jen Ortiz \u2022 Cosmopolitan \u2022 2019)\n\n\n[07:25] \u201cIs Everyone Having Anal Without Me?\u201d (Cosmopolitan \u2022 2015)\n\n\n[12:25] \u201cBradley Cooper Is Not Really Into This Profile\u201d (New York Times \u2022 2018)\n\n\n[14:55] \u201cWho Controls Childbirth?\u201d (Self \u2022 2010)\n\n\n[15:18] "The Company That Sells Love to America Had a Dark Secret\u201d (New York Times \u2022 2019)\n\n\n[28:50] "Antonio Banderas Doesn\u2019t Think You\u2019ll Remember Him. Not Yet.\u201d (New York Times \u2022 2018)\n\n\n[42:30] "Jonathan Franzen Is Fine With All of It\u201d (New York Times \u2022 2018)\n\n\n[47:39] "Losing It in the Anti-Dieting Age\u201d (New York Times \u2022 2017)\n\n\n[48:00] "Are You Woman Enough For The UFC\u201d (Medium \u2022 2014)\n\n\n[49:20] The Mastermind: Drugs. Empire. Murder. Betrayal. (Evan Ratliff \u2022 Random House \u2022 2019)\n\n\n[54:10] "Billy Bob Thornton on Bad Santa 2, Ungrateful Fans, and Why He Won't Direct Anymore\u201d (GQ \u2022 2016)\n\n\n[58:17] Gone Girl (Gilliam Flynn \u2022 Broadway Books \u2022 2014)\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices