Longform · Longform

Episode 579: Kelsey McKinney

May 15, 2024·1 hr 8 min·5 clips

The rule is I can either type the whole time the album is playing or I can shove sour candy into my mouth.

A crow takes the blame first. The episode opens loose, with Max Linsky, Aaron Lammer, and Evan Ratliff settling in for a moment before the interview takes over. Then Linsky gets into Kelsey McKinney's archive. He notices her work moving away from big reported narratives and toward essays and criticism, and McKinney says that read feels right. Freelancing, for her, made reporting feel unusually alive. It gave her a reason to ask questions she might otherwise leave alone. Fun, yes, but also a little nerve wracking. That mix is where the conversation gets good. Linsky keeps the focus on process instead of turning the archive into a neat life story. McKinney says she is mostly herself while reporting, though sometimes she plays dumb because it works. That small admission opens up the bigger subject: how writers get people to explain themselves without flattening the person in front of them. The tone stays calm. Nobody tries to make the nerves grander than they are, and the episode does not hurry toward a lesson. McKinney stays direct. Near the end, she answers a choose-your-own-adventure question both ways, which the host treats as a first. The credits point listeners to Normal Gossip, Defector, and You Didn't Hear This From Me. It lands lightly: reporting as curiosity, permission, and the art of asking one more question.

As heard by us

A low-key craft conversation that makes reporting feel vivid without making it precious.

Kelsey McKinney's turn on Longform stays close to the work behind her writing: the shift from big reported narratives to essays and criticism, and the reason reporting still feels like the most electric part of the job.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

If you like hearing a reporter explain how she gets people to say what they really mean.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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