Articles

Why’s This So (Damn) Good (and Topical)? David Foster Wallace and “McCain’s Promise"

Why’s This So (Damn) Good (and Topical)? David Foster Wallace and “McCain’s Promise”

If you are bored and disgusted by politics and don’t bother to vote, you are in effect voting for the entrenched Establishments of the two major parties, who please rest…
November 8, 2016
Ryan Marnane
Learning about writing from Fred Astaire and Beyoncé, and a "Passport" to dread

Learning about writing from Fred Astaire and Beyoncé, and a “Passport” to dread

Just in time for the weekend, here’s a little list of some of the things I’ve been listening to and reading this week, some of it online — Storyboard included,…
November 4, 2016
Kari Howard
5 Questions: Alex Tizon and "In the Land of Missing Persons"

5 Questions: Alex Tizon and “In the Land of Missing Persons”

Every Sunday, a list of the best longform lands in my inbox. There’s a lot to read out there, and The Sunday Longread, curated by Don Van Natta Jr. and…
November 3, 2016
Jillian Deutsch
Author Caroline Paul: "Adventures are simply stories in action"

Author Caroline Paul: “Adventures are simply stories in action”

When the writer Caroline Paul was young, she wanted to be an Olympic athlete. Problem was, she says, she wasn’t amazingly gifted. So she picked a sport that didn’t have…
November 1, 2016
Kari Howard
From the Storyboard vaults: Some "ghost" stories for Halloween

From the Storyboard vaults: Some “ghost” stories for Halloween

In honor of Halloween, here are a few “ghost” stories that got the Storyboard treatment in years past. All treats, no tricks.Enjoy!https://niemanstoryboard.org/stories/whys-this-so-good-no-33-michael-paterniti-long-fall-of-111-heavy-thomas-curwen/https://niemanstoryboard.org/stories/high-country-news-michelle-nijhuis-on-living-with-an-uneasy-ghost/https://niemanstoryboard.org/stories/steve-luxenberg-interview-on-annies-ghosts-a-journey-into-a-family-secret/…
October 31, 2016
Kari Howard
Finger poppin' with Horace Silver and saying goodbye to Columbus with Philip Roth

Finger poppin’ with Horace Silver and saying goodbye to Columbus with Philip Roth

Just in time for the weekend, here’s a little list of some of the things I’ve been listening to and reading this week, some of it online — Storyboard included,…
October 28, 2016
Kari Howard
5 Questions: Hanna Rosin and "The Silicon Valley Suicides"

5 Questions: Hanna Rosin and “The Silicon Valley Suicides”

Tomorrow’s journalists exploring the masters of today Jacqui Banaszynski is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who now is an endowed Knight Chair  professor at the Missouri School of Journalism. Last semester,…
October 27, 2016
Katie Johns
"Wild" author Cheryl Strayed: "bad memoirs are narcissistic; good memoirs are about all of us"

“Wild” author Cheryl Strayed: “bad memoirs are narcissistic; good memoirs are about all of us”

Cheryl Strayed has pretty much won the writers’ lottery: Her memoir “Wild” was a boffo bestseller, picked for Oprah’s book club and translated into dozens of languages. It then  became…
October 25, 2016
Kari Howard
Robert Johnson and Dorothy Parker: now *that* would be a dinner party

Robert Johnson and Dorothy Parker: now *that* would be a dinner party

Just in time for the weekend, here’s a little list of some of the things I’ve been listening to and reading this week, some of it online — Storyboard included,…
October 21, 2016
Kari Howard
5 Questions: The Washington Post's Eli Saslow and "A survivor's life"

5 Questions: The Washington Post’s Eli Saslow and “A survivor’s life”

In a media landscape quite dependent on quick takes on Twitter and videos transmitted by smartphones, Eli Saslow’s byline offers reassurance of the staying power of the written word. We…
October 20, 2016
Francisco Vara-Orta