Articles

“There is a time to write and a time to walk and a time to reflect and a time to act and I come unwillingly to this journal today, wanting to do something less reflective and feeling that I sometimes strip myself of my most reasonable attributes, bent over this machine.”

In August 1991, I read John Cheever’s journal excerpts published in The New Yorker. I was a 19-year-old college dropout, a waitress, and in the half hour before starting my shift,…
January 10, 2018
Julia Shipley
Annotation Tuesday: Elizabeth Weil and “The Curse of the Bahia Emerald”

Annotation Tuesday: Elizabeth Weil and “The Curse of the Bahia Emerald”

Elizabeth Weil, a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine and Outside, says she doesn’t write about “super important” things. But her warm and captivating voice has animated every…
January 9, 2018
Katia Savchuk
Start 2018 out right with some literary journalism conferences and workshops

Start 2018 out right with some literary journalism conferences and workshops

The Power of Narrative: Telling True Stories in Turbulent TimesMarch 23-25Boston UniversityBoston, MassachusettsIt looks like the longest-running narrative journalism conference is making a point of spotlighting great female journalists and…
January 4, 2018
Kari Howard

“For last year’s words belong to last year’s language, and next year’s words await another voice.”

This line comes from the last of Eliot’s “Four Quartets,” and it is a sometimes terrifying poem, full of fiery images like this striking one:The dove descending breaks the air…
January 3, 2018
Kari Howard
Some legends of longform on the stories we need next

Some legends of longform on the stories we need next

Susan Orlean, Pamela Colloff and other journalism heroes talk about why they think narrative is worthwhile, and what inspires them in grim times
January 2, 2018
Catherine Cusick
Want to read some of the best literary journalism of 2017? We've got you covered

Want to read some of the best literary journalism of 2017? We’ve got you covered

A weekly roundup of some favorite things, for your reading and listening pleasure
December 22, 2017
Kari Howard
"Draft No. 4": the legendary John McPhee's "master class in the writer's craft"

“Draft No. 4”: the legendary John McPhee’s “master class in the writer’s craft”

Who *wouldn't* want to learn the secrets of one of the best literary journalists of the last 50 years? Do we see any hands at all? Didn't think so.
December 21, 2017
David L. Ulin

“We were taken to the ‘Oh, My God, Corner,’ a position near the escalator. People arriving see the long line and say “Oh, my God!” and it’s an elf’s job to calm them down and explain that it will take no longer than an hour to see Santa.”

It’s hard to cull just one sentence from Sedaris’ embedded reporting on being a helper at Santaland, a place he describes as “a real wonderland” with a path taking visitors…
December 20, 2017
Julia Shipley
A veteran freelancer on pitching The New York Times Magazine and more

A veteran freelancer on pitching The New York Times Magazine and more

Reporter (and editor) Paul Tullis has been on both sides of the pitching process; here, he annotates his "Into the Wildfires" proposal
December 19, 2017
Katia Savchuk
Liana Aghajanian and the story of immigrants in America, one recipe at a time

Liana Aghajanian and the story of immigrants in America, one recipe at a time

In her blog "Dining in Diaspora," the Detroit-based writer tries to document the complexity of Armenian identity through the lens of food
December 14, 2017
Olga Kreimer