Author

Notable Narrative: Ben Goldfarb and “The Deliciously Fishy Case Of The 'Codfather'"

Notable Narrative: Ben Goldfarb and “The Deliciously Fishy Case Of The ‘Codfather'”

The reporter talks about using an eye-catching narrative to tell a policy story for this Mother Jones meets Mario Puzo by way of New England article
May 25, 2017

“Did he kill? If he did kill, I would swear that it is with this meticulous, somewhat maniacal, admirably lucid care with which he classifies his notes, drafts his papers. Did he kill? Then it is while whistling a little tune, and wearing an apron for fear of stains.”

Why is it so great? I came across this stunning line (yes, it’s more than one sentence) in a piece in a literary journalism journal about the novelist Colette’s outings as a…
May 24, 2017
The truth must be told: a conversation with slain Mexican journalist Javier Valdez

The truth must be told: a conversation with slain Mexican journalist Javier Valdez

In this translation of a haunting interview given just months before he was gunned down, the crusading reporter talks of telling "stories of love in the midst of corpses hanging…
May 22, 2017
Fake news and true facts, and the licenses taken in pursuit of narrative

Fake news and true facts, and the licenses taken in pursuit of narrative

All journalism is a kind of fiction, one writer argues, because of the intercession of the reporter; as our attitudes on truth and nonfiction have grown more atomized, the most…
May 18, 2017

“This will happen so fast that one night he will be in the backyard, believing it a perfect place, and by the next night he will have changed and the yard as he imagined it will be gone, and this era of his life will be behind him forever.”

This famous piece by Susan Orlean is one of those stories where it’s hard to pick just one great sentence. You find one, and then another, and then another —…
May 17, 2017
Literary journalism gets some love, from "Hiroshima" to Shane Bauer's prison exposé

Literary journalism gets some love, from “Hiroshima” to Shane Bauer’s prison exposé

A weekly roundup of some favorite things, for your reading and listening pleasure
May 12, 2017

The roadblocks, and the dangers, for investigative journalists in the Arab world

As the Arab Spring ushered in less openness rather than more, a Jordan-based group supports reporters taking chances in this fledgling movement
May 11, 2017

“There’s no room for hate in ice cream,” Dennis liked to remind himself.

Why is it great? We annotated this wonderful story last year, and the focus of the annotation was the rarity of humor in longform. This line makes me laugh even…
May 10, 2017
5(ish) Questions: Josh O'Kane and "The Ballad of Fogarty's Cove"

5(ish) Questions: Josh O’Kane and “The Ballad of Fogarty’s Cove”

The Globe and Mail reporter talks about his Nova Scotia story exploring the love of a place, and the sorrow over leaving when it cannot sustain you
May 9, 2017

“She was beautiful but when she tasted the water from the glass on her lectern she smiled sadly as if it were bitter for, in spite of her civil zeal, she had a taste for the melancholy – for the smell of orange rinds and wood smoke – that was extraordinary.”

Why is it great? When I moved back to New England last year after nearly a lifetime away, John Cheever’s debut novel about a quirky New England family was the…
May 4, 2017