Articles

Reporting trauma: Jessica Ravitz on farmer suicides

Reporting trauma: Jessica Ravitz on farmer suicides

Ravitz made time and space for a daughter and son to talk about their father's death in hopes of helping others
Sticking a story together — and nailing the structure

Sticking a story together — and nailing the structure

A top Danish journalist uses a one-word theme and color-coded Post-its to find the path through her stories
When writing sparks writing

When writing sparks writing

Lines from a Muriel Rukeyser poem echoed forward into the heart of a Christmas movie starring Dame Maggie Smith
Reporting trauma: John D. Sutter on Hurricane Maria

Reporting trauma: John D. Sutter on Hurricane Maria

Sutter spent a year following victims of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico for CNN, and gained insights about taking care of story subjects and himself.
An obit gets honest and goes viral

An obit gets honest and goes viral

The son of a bawdy woman talks about writing an irreverent obituary to match his mom's irreverent life
An editor's sensitive guide to interviewing victims of trauma

An editor’s sensitive guide to interviewing victims of trauma

Narrative editor Jan Winburn created a class at the University of Montana focused on "The Worst Day Ever: Writing about Trauma"
An Atlantic writer turned a fatal blow into a sensitive study of boxing, guilt and grit

An Atlantic writer turned a fatal blow into a sensitive study of boxing, guilt and grit

Jacob Stern knew nothing about boxing when he set out to ask a painful question: How can a boxer who killed an opponent return to the ring?
The making of Joan Didion: From fuzzy facts to peerless prose

The making of Joan Didion: From fuzzy facts to peerless prose

A re-read of Didion's work shows the evolution of excellence that came through years of hard work and self scrutiny
The bold Joan Didion story you probably never read

The bold Joan Didion story you probably never read

A charter member of IRE carried lessons from Didion's probe of the 1989 Central Park jogger case throughout his career
Kari Howard: An editor and mentor who loved good stories and storytellers

Kari Howard: An editor and mentor who loved good stories and storytellers

“I’d told a few friends but asked them to keep it under their hats,” Kari emailed me in the spring of 2016. She had just been appointed editor of Nieman…