Photography by Justyna Gudzowska

Patrick Radden Keefe

Writer

WHAT’S ONE BOOK, WORK OF ART, ALBUM, OR FILM THAT GOT YOU THROUGH AN IMPORTANT MOMENT IN YOUR LIFE?

As a kid, I had a print of Paul Klee’s Sinbad the Sailor on my bedroom wall. Then, it felt like a metaphor for adolescence. Now, more like a metaphor for my career.

WHAT’S SOMETHING PEOPLE GET WRONG ABOUT YOU?

Given the darkness of a lot of my writing, I have a jarringly sunny disposition.

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU SURPRISED YOURSELF IN YOUR WORK?

Anytime I’m working on an article or a book and start piecing my reporting together into a narrative, that process is full of ecstatic surprise. It’s like making a collage, or a jigsaw puzzle, finding the exact right spot for each clue or revelation. When the pieces finally click into place, my heart races. I should keep my voice down because a lot of writers hate the writing part, but I love it.

““If you’re writing the kind of story that could just as easily be farmed out to an A.I., you’re doing it wrong.””

WHAT DO YOU THINK IS YOUR BIGGEST CONTRIBUTION TO CULTURE?

Bringing the word “skulduggery” back into general circulation (a work in progress).

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO SEE MORE OF IN YOUR INDUSTRY? LESS OF?

More: viable business models to sustain heavily reported narrative journalism. Less: If you’re writing the kind of story that could just as easily be farmed out to an A.I., you’re doing it wrong.

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