Articles

Shadows cast on the love of a game

Shadows cast on the love of a game

How the profile of a sweet sport led to news scoops and a dark mystery, and how the mystery drove a narrative
"You can't hit or write your way out of a shadow."

“You can’t hit or write your way out of a shadow.”

—Rob Hiassen, editor at the Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Maryland
Learning to see beyond first sight

Learning to see beyond first sight

Editor’s note: We are trying out a new feature. Call it writing practice (with a nod to Natalie Goldberg’s “Writing Down the Bones,” where I first encountered the term). Or…
"They have to do everything the men did, except backwards and with ideals."

“They have to do everything the men did, except backwards and with ideals.”

—Amanda Hess, New York Times Critic's Notebook June 12, 2018
Feeding the world – and feeling despair

Feeding the world – and feeling despair

A former farmer turns to writing to uncover the global crisis of farmer suicides – and plants the seeds of a response

“A singing bagpipe joined the wind in the pines.”

—Former Oregonian outdoor columnist Bill Monroe
Beyond Boko Haram: Pictures from Nigeria

Beyond Boko Haram: Pictures from Nigeria

Photojournalist Rahima Gambo invited schoolgirls to collaborate with her to create images reflecting intimate moments of joy and playfulness that challenge our perceptions of victimhood and war

“…you can’t write about this stuff and be boring. That would be a sin against God.”

—Award-winning novelist, feminist and activist Dorothy Allison
At the Guardian's Long Read, no rigid formula or geographic limits

At the Guardian’s Long Read, no rigid formula or geographic limits

The editor's advice: Study what's been published before. Be authoritative, fresh and "arresting." Dare to send a (good) cold pitch
Welcome to pizza, potluck and a story potlatch

Welcome to pizza, potluck and a story potlatch

I’m writing this from a mash-up of a magazine newsroom in Bucharest. The walls are smelly and stained from a recent flood in the apartment above. Desks are cluttered with…