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A hitchhiker’s guide to a galaxy of stories
Before Michael Paterniti published some of the most strangely beautiful and empathetic stories of his generation, before he was a contributor to The New York Times Magazine and a correspondent for GQ,...
View Article“Truth is whatever you can get enough people to believe.”
You can’t turn around in the U.S. these days without bumping into a cry of “Fake News!” or a news story decrying the same. Not that spin is a modern phenomenon. Throughout human history, propaganda has...
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The LA Times resurrects Column One
Fifty-one years ago, The Los Angeles Times published the first of what came to be known as “Column One” stories, inspired by a few editors who wanted more than breaking news on the front page. “They...
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Unearthing L.A. through a tribal tongue
In November 2017, Los Angeles Times staff writer Thomas Curwen noticed an email subject line that intrigued him: UCLA linguist seeking to awaken the sleeping language of the Tongva – LA’s indigenous...
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Haunting old photos — and happenstance — launch a search for answers
At first glance, it might seem an unlikely story from a veteran investigative reporter. But it was those investigative instincts and skills that James Eli Shiffer used to report and write the sweet,...
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Stories that beget stories
Chuck Haga with his camping partner and story muse, granddaughter Emma. Haga says they have both aged since this picture was taken, but that Emma wears it better. EDITOR’S NOTE: Metrics aside, the...
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“Sometimes a story deserves a new look.”
Miami Herald reporter Julie K. Brown Miami Herald reporter Julie K. Brown has gotten a lot of reverse ink in recent weeks — not in stories by her, but about her. Brown is the reporter who spent the...
View Article“Righteous rage” and powerful journalism
EDITOR’S NOTE: The Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference, now in its 15th year, has grown into one of the the premier journalistic gatherings in the United States. This year’s conference, held last...
View Article“The house was a fawn-brown color with curved white interior walls and my...
A sentence that grabs you by the heart and hooks you into the narrative is one of the most powerful ways to become one with the pages. It also keeps the reader thinking days later, kind of like a good...
View ArticleCovering failures in the justice system with patience for facts and...
Journalism that explores “true crime” is booming, in everything from investigative stories to books to gripping TV documentaries. But it can easily risk being exploitative. That cautionary note comes...
View ArticleGems of wisdom: Start writing, read out loud, and send handwritten notes
I wasn’t sure what to expect. This would be my first time attending the Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference and, as in any situation where I’m faced with the unknown, I was excited yet a bit...
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14 hours from event to post: Delivering narrative with context on deadline
Since 2015, Michael Kruse of Politico has written hundreds of thousands of words about Donald J. Trump, plumbing the President’s unorthodox campaign tactics, his dubious finances, his penchant for...
View ArticleA tribute to the “beauty and power” of work by novelist Toni Morrison
EDITOR’S NOTE: This piece was shared, with thanks and permission, by our friends at The Poynter Institute. AUTHOR’S NOTE: American author and Nobel laureate Toni Morrison died August 5, 2019, at the...
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Romancing the moon in the reality of time
When it came time to write about the 50th anniversary of man’s first walk on the moon, Charles P. Pierce jettisoned sentimentality like a booster rocket. The opening of Pierce’s July 20 Esquire column...
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Lessons from a relentless “Reporter”
“Reporter” had to be the inevitable title for legendary investigative journalist Seymour M. Hersh’s 2018 autobiography. It’s perfect — a simple, proud word that encompasses craft, passion and...
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Reclaiming history with jars of dirt, and building stories from the ground up
EDITOR’S NOTE: Four hundred years ago, a Portugueses ship landed at a port in Virginia. Its cargo was “20 and odd” humans — the survivors of a horrendous crossing from Angola to the New World, and the...
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From the caress of love to the fists of fear
EDITOR’S NOTE: This week, Nieman Reports magazine takes an unflinching look at domestic violence, and at the challenges and imperative of covering for what it is: not a “crime of passion” but a global...
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Chasing ghosts that will forever haunt
The image is stark, hypnotic: a road, framed by towering pines, bathed in the blue light of late night or early dawn. The curve of a guardrail and a pickup truck’s headlights blur in the mist....
View ArticleShop class: Stuck before you start? Eat a cookie, take a walk, call on the elves
I’m not usually struck with writer’s block. I’ve been a journalist for 40 years; when you work for a daily newspaper you are not allowed that luxury. You report, you go back to the office, you pound it...
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A self-made freelance career (with a little help along the way)
EDITOR’S NOTE: We came across this interview with freelance journalist Barry Yeoman on the Creatives in Conversation site, run by Allison Kirkland, and are so glad we did. Because now we know about...
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