Pull Quotes Podcast

Podcast art by Katelyn Curtis

In the season opener of Pull Quotes, the Toronto Star feature writer Richard Warnica spoke with Gabe Oatley, the podcast’s editor and co-host, about his recent feature Rothko at the Inauguration

This season’s podcast takes you behind the scenes of Canada’s top long-form stories. In this episode, Warnica talks about his near half-decade long journey to bring this feature, published by Hazlitt in December to light. 

“I knew I wanted to write about it, but I had no idea what I was going to write.”

Richard Warnica

In the podcast, Warnica talks about what drew him into this story—a near transcendent moment at the National Gallery in Washington, D.C., during the inauguration of Donald Trump, staring at a room full of Mark Rothko paintings. 

“I sort of sat there by myself, because the gallery was deserted, and I ended up crying and walking out,” says Warnica. “I knew I wanted to write about it, but I had no idea what I was going to write.”

In the interview, Warnica talks about the story’s unusual structure—nut-graf-free and broken into dozens of fragments; his method for writing great scenes and vivid descriptions; and how anxiety has affected his writing. 

Credits: 

Gabe Oatley, editor and co-host

Rahaf Farawi, producer and co-host

Andrew Oliphant, guest producer

Annika Forman, guest producer

Geena Mortfield, fact checker

Sonya Fatah, executive producer

About the author

Gabe Oatley
+ posts

Gabe Oatley is Managing Editor (Podcast) at the Review of Journalism.

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