Nieman Storyboard - Nieman Storyboard

Story Annotations

How ESPN’s Seth Wickersham followed an NFL team’s playoff run from the inside

The award-winning sports journalist and author of the new anthology ‘Be on That Hill’ parlays his years of experience into an immersive profile of Denver Broncos coach Sean Payton

Brendan O‘Meara

Podcast

Author and editor Sari Botton on giving yourself permission to write personal essays

The editor behind the popular newsletters Oldster and Memoir Land discusses her own journey to writing a memoir, and how journalists can find their voice

Mark Armstrong

Podcast

Audio journalist Will James on investigating the unsolved murder of a teenager in Seattle’s CHOP zone

The podcast producer on collaborating across newsrooms and finding the big idea within a story

Marina Leigh

Story Annotations

Yiyun Li reconsiders the language of loss in her Pulitzer-winning memoir, ‘Things in Nature Merely Grow’

The acclaimed author discusses how words like “grief” fail when writing about the loss of her teenage son James

Mallary Tenore Tarpley

Nieman Storyboard’s guides on storytelling

Story Craft

The art of pitching: How to sell your book or story idea

Editors from The Atavist, Wired, and more share what they’re looking for in a story or book proposal.

Story Craft

How to craft a narrative: Everything you need to know

A four-part series on the key elements of nonfiction storytelling, including scene, character and endings.

Lauren Kessler

Story Craft

The Nieman Storyboard guide to books on storytelling

Journalists, authors, producers, filmmakers, and Nieman Storyboard readers share more than 40 books that inspire their work.

Mallary Tenore Tarpley

Story Craft

How to interview for narrative vs. news

From broad and open-ended to narrow and specific: Journalist Kim Cross’s five-part series on interviewing for narrative nonfiction.

Kim Cross

Strictly Q&A

Podcast Strictly Q&A

Author and editor Sari Botton on giving yourself permission to write personal essays

The editor behind the popular newsletters Oldster and Memoir Land discusses her own journey to writing a memoir, and how journalists can find their voice

Mark Armstrong

Podcast Strictly Q&A

Audio journalist Will James on investigating the unsolved murder of a teenager in Seattle's CHOP zone

The podcast producer on collaborating across newsrooms and finding the big idea within a story

Marina Leigh

Podcast Strictly Q&A

Story Annotations

Annotation: Yiyun Li reconsiders the language of loss in her Pulitzer-winning memoir, ‘Things in Nature Merely Grow’

The acclaimed author discusses how words like “grief” fail when writing about the loss of her teenage son James

Mallary Tenore Tarpley

Story Annotations

Song Annotation: ‘Cold Missouri Waters’

In a song about a wildfire, songwriter James Keelaghan narrates a story that took Norman Maclean a whole book to tell

Kim Cross

Story Annotations

Annotation: The award-winning book proposal that became Lorraine Boissoneault's ‘Body Weather’

Boissoneault, whose proposal won the J. Anthony Lukas Work-in-Progress Award in 2024, breaks down how she wrote it

Erika Hayasaki

Story Craft

How 5 journalists structured their stories to hook readers

From the Editor

Personal stories of 9/11, 25 years later

Plus: Sari Botton on the craft of memoir, and what happens when a source becomes the main character

Mark Armstrong

From the Editor

Scenes from an end-of-summer reading list

Plus: Remembering Gloria Steinem, and writing memoir in the present tense

Mark Armstrong

From the Editor

The authority versus authenticity question

Audio documentary producer Will James on the making of NPR's “We Keep Us Safe.” Plus: How to pitch Slate's features editor

Mark Armstrong

How ESPN’s Seth Wickersham followed an NFL team’s playoff run from the inside

Author and editor Sari Botton on giving yourself permission to write personal essays

Audio journalist Will James on investigating the unsolved murder of a teenager in Seattle’s CHOP zone

Yiyun Li reconsiders the language of loss in her Pulitzer-winning memoir, ‘Things in Nature Merely Grow’

Nieman Storyboard’s guides on storytelling

The art of pitching: How to sell your book or story idea

How to craft a narrative: Everything you need to know