Narrative News

Jim Sheeler turned the simple obituary into a high and reverent art

Sheeler, winner of the 2006 Pulitzer Prize in feature writing, is dead at 53

By Jacqui Banaszynski • September 23, 2021

Jim Sheeler won the 2006 Pultizer Prize in feature writing for

The New Yorker explores a dilemma in Ultra-Orthodox divorce: What about the children?

Writer Larissa MacFarquhar is drawn to stories that help her sort out issues that have no clear solutions

By Carly Stern • September 21, 2021

Story Craft

How listening to foreign languages can enrich your writing

An author and essayist listens to stories in in their native tongues to hear new rhythms, phrasing and metaphor

By Shoba Narayan • September 17, 2021

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Story Annotations

Reporting through privacy and pain to expose the scandal of Black amputations

By Chip Scanlan

September 15, 2021

National Magazine Award winner Lizzie Presser documents the discrimination that leaves Black diabetes patients without easy and affordable care

Story Annotations

An editor annotates her own column from 20 years ago about Sept. 11

By Lisa Grace Lednicer

September 14, 2021

Now an editor at The Washington Post, Lisa Grace Lednicer critiques an emotional essay she wrote at The Oregonian in the wake of 9/11

Strictly Q&A

Tracking shards of grief for 20 years, and daring to love your story subjects

By Trevor Pyle

September 10, 2021

Jennifer Senior of The Atlantic goes on a quest to find what a friend lost to 9/11 left behind, and delivers a meditation on love and grief

Story Craft

A 9/11 survival story: Honoring accuracy and voice in eyewitness accounts

By Roy Peter Clark

September 9, 2021

Writing scholar Roy Peter Clark reprises a cousin's escape story, and finds lessons for writers who help people recount personal stories

Story Craft

A panoramic approach to a book about the Sept. 11 boat lift

By Jessica DuLong

September 7, 2021

Author Jessica DuLong considered pointillism and reader needs to tell the sweeping story of the largest maritime rescue in history

Story Craft

From Sept. 11 to COVID: Using the personal to write the global

By Shoba Narayan

September 8, 2021

Memoirs of universal events require a intimate details, personal exploration and respect for facts

Story Annotations

“The Simulation of Jessica:” Chapter 3 probes the ethics and power of A.I.

By Chip Scanlan

September 2, 2021

The final chapter in Jason Fagone's profile of a chatbot romance leaves readers ponding the future role of artificial intelligence in our lives

Story Annotations

“The Simulation of Jessica:” Chapter 2 unfurls an intimate chatbot conversation

By Chip Scanlan

September 1, 2021

A three-part profile by Jason Fagone of the San Francisco Chronicle reveals the surprising depth of artificial intelligence

Story Annotations

Jason Fagone follows the creation, life and death of a chatbot romance

By Chip Scanlan

August 31, 2021

The San Francisco Chronicle series uses authentic text exchanges to explore a relationship resurrected through artificial intelligence

Strictly Q&A

How the loss of one Olympic story led to gold on another

By Trevor Pyle

August 27, 2021

Wall Street Journal sports reporter Ben Cohen found a surprising profile of an unlikely Olympian in previous notes, then used Zoom to bring it to life

One Great Moment

“His name was Zaki Anwari …”

By Tom Warhover

August 25, 2021

When a passive verb makes the story

Personal Essays

A retired newspaper man finds a new writing voice in the solitude of wilderness

By Chuck Haga

August 24, 2021

With inspiration from other meditative writers, Chuck Haga meets himself and fellow campers in the Minnesota wilderness