William Finnegan on Barbarian Days, Conflict Reporting, Traveling, and Finding an Audience

Award-winning author and The New Yorker staff writer William Finnegan came to surfing early while growing up between Hawaii and Southern California. He helped bring surf writing, as a genre, to the literary fore in 1992 with the publication of his two-part essay “Playing Doc’s Games” in The New Yorker, which chronicled both his and “Doc” Renneker’s pursuits at Ocean Beach, San Francisco. His 2015 memoir, Barbarian Days, which documented his surfing life, won the Pulitzer Prize. Beyond the surf, Finnegan has devoted much of his career to conflict reporting in regions ranging from South Africa and Mexico to parts of Asia. In this episode, Finnegan talks with show host Jamie Brisick about the modern marriage of surfing and intellectualism, the importance of asking questions, writing, curiosity, outing himself as a surfer in the context of his career, Bali’s dystopian reality, the dissemination of surf culture, and how his experience as a teacher in South Africa during apartheid shaped him as a writer.
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Produced by Jonathan Shifflett.
Music by PazKa (Aska Matsumiya & Paz Lenchantin).
Feature image by Jamie Brisick.

[@scottmcwave9479]

If you surf and enjoy reading, go get his book!

[@patricknoveski6409]

I got Barbarian Days book a few years ago,and was amazed at how it paralleled my life as a surfer. Often, the same geography. Growing up in the 50's in the Valley. Having a connection to Maui early in life, & knowing there was a pot of gold there. Yet the book is written for anyone. Just a beautiful twist on a lucky few who discovered the joy of wave riding. Thank you, Bill & Jamie.

[@thesurfersjournal]

Thank you for sharing and for listening.

[@ericjorgensen8028]

Thank you! Loved his book.

[@Pow329]

Great episode! I listened to barbarian days years ago on audiobook and Bill does the reading, so it kind of felt like hearing from an old friend.