Marc Dadigan, Etude writer and graduate student in the University of Oregon’s Literary Nonfiction Program, interviewed Alex Kotlowitz at his home in suburban Chicago in December 2008.

Here’s the audio version of their interview. The complete 48-minute audio file can be downloaded for easy listening on an ipod or mp3 player.

If you prefer to listen to short clips from the interview on specific topics, click on the audio files below.

Kotlowitz on his path to becoming a writer

Kotlowitz on being an outsider

Kotlowitz on immersion journalism

Kotlowitz on the journalism of empathy

Kotlowitz on reporting for this book The Other Side of the River

Kotlowitz on the purpose of myth

Kotlowitz on what writers owe their subjects