Q&A: How a letter, honesty and patience won the trust of a shamed school cop

Washington Post narrative writer Eli Saslow answers an essential question: "How'd he get that guy to talk to him?"

By Pat Walters • August 16, 2018

Manuel and Patricia Oliver, parents of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting victim Joaquin Oliver, hold hands as they speak to the media in Miami during a June 5, 2018, news conference reacting to former sheriff's deputy Scot Peterson interview airing on NBC's

“During six Sundays, he never varied his routine, faithful as a migratory mallard, his route taking him through a neighborhood of apartments that all seemed to be dying of boredom.”

Pulitzer Prize winning novelist Viet Thanh Nguyen

By Jacqui Banaszynski • August 15, 2018

Immigration reporting from the inside-out: through the mouths and eyes of babes

Dan Barry and a team of New York Times reporters channel the voices of children held in migrant detention camps

By Traci Angel • August 13, 2018

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Avi Selk eulogizes the long life and too-soon death of Spider 16, and what she taught us

By Rebecca Boyle

July 18, 2018

In his elegiac profile, the Washington Post general assignment reporter talks about finding gems in previously published work, and doing it all on deadline

Can you say … Thanks, and we miss you?

By Matt Tullis

July 13, 2018

On Mister Rogers, Tom Junod and the art of reverence

“She’s just telling what’s real out there that she sees.”

By Jacqui Banaszynski

July 10, 2018

Why it’s so great: Tyler is a novelist, not a journalist. But the work of writing is the work of writing. In this New York Times profile by Charles McGrath – based on a rare … Read more

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

By Jacqui Banaszynski

July 4, 2018

American flag, somewhere over Lake Superior off the shore of Bayfield, Wisconsin Jacqui Banaszynski … Read more

Shadows cast on the love of a game

By Greg Bowers

July 3, 2018

How the profile of a sweet sport led to news scoops and a dark mystery, and how the mystery drove a narrative

“You can’t hit or write your way out of a shadow.”

By Jacqui Banaszynski

June 28, 2018

Maryland Capital Gazette deputy editor Rob Hiassen Joshua McKerrow, Capital Gazette Why is this so great? Before we … Read more

Learning to see beyond first sight

By Jacqui Banaszynski

June 28, 2018

Insights from a writing practice at the water's edge

“They have to do everything the men did, except backwards and with ideals.”

By Jacqui Banaszynski

June 20, 2018

Amanda Hess, New York Times Critic's Notebook June 12, 2018

Feeding the world – and feeling despair

By Julia Shipley

June 11, 2018

A former farmer turns to writing to uncover the global crisis of farmer suicides – and plants the seeds of a response

“A singing bagpipe joined the wind in the pines.”

By Jacqui Banaszynski

June 10, 2018

Why is it so great? I have come to love bagpipes, perhaps because they conjur special moments in my life, perhaps because they are rooted in my maternal heritage. But I know many cringe at … Read more

From Nieman Reports

Beyond Boko Haram: Pictures from Nigeria

By Laura Beltrán Villamizar

June 7, 2018

Photojournalist Rahima Gambo invited schoolgirls to collaborate with her to create images reflecting intimate moments of joy and playfulness that challenge our perceptions of victimhood and war

One Great Sentence

“…you can’t write about this stuff and be boring. That would be a sin against God.”

By Jacqui Banaszynski

June 6, 2018

Why is it great? I read Allison’s “Bastard Out of Carolina” when it was first published, about the time I was covering a range of social justice issues – gender, race, class, sexual orientation. I … Read more

5 Questions

Q&A: How a letter, honesty and patience won the trust of a shamed school cop

Washington Post narrative writer Eli Saslow answers an essential question: "How'd he get that guy to talk to him?"

One Great Sentence

“During six Sundays, he never varied his routine, faithful as a migratory mallard, his route taking him through a neighborhood of apartments that all seemed to be dying of boredom.”

Pulitzer Prize winning novelist Viet Thanh Nguyen

Annotation Tuesday!

Immigration reporting from the inside-out: through the mouths and eyes of babes

Dan Barry and a team of New York Times reporters channel the voices of children held in migrant detention camps

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Steve Oney

Katia Savchuk

Julia Shipley

Jasmine Bager

Julie Schwietert Collazo

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5 Questions

Avi Selk eulogizes the long life and too-soon death of Spider 16, and what she taught us

Notable Narratives

Can you say … Thanks, and we miss you?

One Great Sentence

“She’s just telling what’s real out there that she sees.”

One Great Sentence

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Why's This So Good?

Shadows cast on the love of a game

One Great Sentence

“You can’t hit or write your way out of a shadow.”

Story Craft

Learning to see beyond first sight

One Great Sentence

“They have to do everything the men did, except backwards and with ideals.”

Annotation Tuesday!

Feeding the world – and feeling despair

One Great Sentence

“A singing bagpipe joined the wind in the pines.”

From Nieman Reports

Beyond Boko Haram: Pictures from Nigeria

One Great Sentence

“…you can’t write about this stuff and be boring. That would be a sin against God.”