Episode 20
Deirdre Mask is a London-based attorney, a writer, and academic. Her work has appeared in The Atlantic, The Guardian, The New York Times, The Economist, Lit Hub, The Harvard Law Review, The New Hibernia Review, The Dublin Review, and Irish Pages. She is the author of The Address Book published by St. Martin’s Press in 2020. She also teaches “Writing a Nonfiction Book” and “Advanced Creative Nonfiction” at Harvard Extension School.
We sat down with Deirdre to talk about the various historical events and developments she describes in her book – from the history of tracking cholera patients in 19th century London, to how modern-day volunteers are working to ensure residents in large cities in India are assigned house numbers. Deirdre shared with us what she hopes readers will take away from the book and she also shared some writing insights she passes along to her students.