Brett Martin
Brett Martin is the author of Difficult Men: Behind the Scenes of a Creative Revolution (2013). A tenth-anniversary edition, with a new preface, was published by Penguin Press in 2023.
He is a Correspondent for GQ Magazine, a three-time James Beard Award winner, seven-time finalist, and a seven-time selectee of the annual Best Food Writing anthology. His work appears regularly in Vanity Fair, National Geographic, Bon Appetit, Garden & Gun, Smithsonian, Outside, the New York Times Magazine, and The New Yorker, among others, and on public radio’s This American Life. He has taught in the nonfiction MFA program at Johns Hopkins University.
A lot of this work can be found archived here.
Find Brett on Bluesky: @brettmartin.bsky.social
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Here is a small selection of recent and not-so-recent work:
Why did This Guy Put a Song About Me on Spotify? for the New York Times Magazine.
The Ethical Assassin: One Man’s Search for the Perfect Way to Kill a Fish, for GQ. (This is a 2026 National Magazine Award Finalist for Profile Writing)
On the complicated past and future of Preservation Hall, for the New York Times Magazine.
A profile of José Andrés, for GQ.
A journey through the heart of Florida, for Garden & Gun.
Wearing Larry David’s pants, for GQ.
How Jacques Pépin Saved My Life, for GQ.
Cover photo by David Hagerman.