Nate DiMeo

Nate DiMeo (born 1974) is an American podcaster, screenwriter, and author based out of Los Angeles, and the host of his award-winning podcast, The Memory Palace.^[1] He is also the author (although the fictional character Leslie Knope is listed as the author on the book's cover)^[2] of Pawnee: the Greatest Town in America and a finalist for the 2012 Thurber Prize for American Humor.^[3] After spending a decade on public radio, featured on programs ranging from NPR's All Things Considered and Morning Edition, to Marketplace, DiMeo decided to found his own his podcast centered around lesser-known historical narratives. Since 2008, The Memory Palace^[1] has been received with critical acclaim and was nominated for a Peabody Award in 2016,^[4] and was profiled in The New Yorker^[5] in 2018.

DiMeo in 2024 at Solid State Books in Washington, DC

Personal

Nate DiMeo was born in 1974 in Providence, Rhode Island. His parents were professors. After his birth, the family moved to Rehoboth, Massachusetts, where he was raised. After college, he worked in and around Providence, eventually finding a way to work in public radio. He moved to Los Angeles when an opportunity arose to become an editor on the NPR production, Marketplace. He branched out from there, both into reporting for the network and also into screenwriting for various television shows (including episodes of Parks and Recreation and The Astronaut Wives Club). He began producing short history-based audio vignettes on the side, mostly for his own growth and enjoyment at first. The first episode of what became The Memory Palace aired in November 2008, and the show became sufficiently popular (and financially viable) spend full time on TMP as an independent vehicle (not on NPR; presently carried by Radiotopia).

In 2016-7, the Metropolitan Museum of Art named him artist-in-residence, and he produced several TMP episodes highlighting aspects and properties of the Museum.^[6]

DiMeo is married to television writer/producer Leila Gerstein. They live in Los Angeles with their daughter, Quinby.^[5]

References

1. "About". The Memory Palace. September 6, 2008. Archived from the original on 14 April 2018. Retrieved April 11, 2018.
2. Knope, Leslie (4 October 2011). Pawnee: The Greatest Town in America. ISBN 978-1401310646.
3. "Past Thurber Prize Winners and Finalists". Thurber House. Archived from the original on 18 October 2018. Retrieved 17 October 2018.
4. "The Memory Palace". Radiotopia. Archived from the original on 12 April 2018. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
5. Larson, Sarah (25 January 2018). ""The Memory Palace": History in Escapist Vignettes". The New Yorker. Retrieved 27 June 2022.
6. Joshua Barone (27 October 2016). "A Podcast Finds A Home, Delving Into Met History". The New York Times. Retrieved 27 July 2022.