Articles

The story calling you: Todd Frankel connects with one St. Louis Cardinals fan

Some events cry out for narrative treatment. Take a look at this wire story about a St. Louis Cardinal fan injured in Pittsburgh and the assist he got from player…

Environmental narrative: from reindeer herders to sustainable prisons

Between following firefighters in Washington’s Methow Valley and the semi-nomadic Sami reindeer herders of Norway, Sara Joy Steele and Benjamin Drummond are putting together some innovative chapters in their large-scale…

Will KCET’s "Departures" set the pace for community storytelling?

Last week, the USC Annenberg School on Communications and the National Arts Journalism Program hosted a National Summit on Arts Journalism at USC, highlighting five public projects that are exploring new…

The best-kept secret on medical narratives

A doctor gets shingles and finds himself unable to refuse unnecessary tests. A student in need of a kidney transplant gets offers of marriage, with free health care attached. A…
Can ER teach us anything about medical news stories?

Can ER teach us anything about medical news stories?

Yesterday, The Harvard Crimson posted a fascinating article about the power of storytelling. Neal Baer, executive producer of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, spoke at a Radcliffe event titled “Telling…
Interview with Mary Gaitskill: lessons from "Lost Cat"

Interview with Mary Gaitskill: lessons from "Lost Cat"

Today we offer the second installment of a two-part look at narrative nonfiction from Granta’s summer issue. I spoke with author Mary Gaitskill about “Lost Cat,” her memoir on the…
Interview with Mitch Epstein: Images of “American Power”

Interview with Mitch Epstein: Images of “American Power”

In September, photographer Mitch Epstein spoke by phone with us about his project “American Power,” which was highlighted in Granta’s summer issue. Epstein has worked as a fine art photographer…
Picturing the cost of power

Picturing the cost of power

Mitch Epstein’s "American Power" depicts the landscape as political narrative. The American photographer, who has chronicled cultural complexities in India and Vietnam, now homes his camera in on dissonances within…
Innocence and suspense: David Grann's "Trial by Fire"

Innocence and suspense: David Grann’s "Trial by Fire"

“Trial by Fire,” from the September 7 issue of The New Yorker, recounts the story of Cameron Todd Willingham, executed in Texas for setting fire to his house and killing…

Narrative, News and Conferences

Today the Online News Association wraps up its 2009 Conference in San Francisco. Thursday’s pre-conference video workshops from The Washington Post’s Chet Rhodes and Ford Fellow Richard Koci Hernandez sound…