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'It's not about the cameras, it's about how you see the world' — and 49 other tips and inspirations from the BU narrative conference

‘It’s not about the cameras, it’s about how you see the world’ — and 49 other tips and inspirations from the BU narrative conference

Fifty takeouts from some of the speakers at last weekend’s Boston University conference on narrative, culled from the Twitter feeds of Lauren Alexander, Alletta Cooper, Cat Cowan, Jessica DuLong, John…
April 8, 2014

Remembering Anja Niedringhaus

Anja Niedringhaus in April 2005 (AP Photo/Peter Dejong) Anja Niedringhaus, the veteran AP photographer and 2007 Nieman Fellow who was shot and killed today in eastern Afghanistan while covering the run-up to the presidential…
April 4, 2014
Writing the book: Neil Swidey on 'Trapped Under the Sea'

Writing the book: Neil Swidey on ‘Trapped Under the Sea’

I love inspirational quotes from august authors as much as the next writer. But the quote I thought about the most during the long years when I was writing my…
April 3, 2014
"Why's this so good?" No. 90: George Plimpton and Sidd Finch

“Why’s this so good?” No. 90: George Plimpton and Sidd Finch

Twenty-nine years ago today, Sports Illustrated ran George Plimpton’s "The Curious Case of Sidd Finch," about a mysterious, unknown major league pitching recruit who threw a fastball at jet speed. Published…
April 1, 2014
Storytelling for the win: This year's ASME finalists

Storytelling for the win: This year’s ASME finalists

This year’s National Magazine Award nominations in the features, multimedia, reporting and essay/criticism categories cover conflict, immigration, violence, grief, the abortion wars and more, from a host of talented journalists…
March 28, 2014
"Why's this so good?" No. 89: Matthew Power and 'Mississippi Drift'

“Why’s this so good?” No. 89: Matthew Power and ‘Mississippi Drift’

My friend Matthew Power, wondrously excellent human and magazine journalist, died recently while on assignment in Uganda.Like so many others, in recent days I have missed Matt, older-writing-brother Matt, in…
March 25, 2014
Pinned: A boxer, a triple murder, an art mystery, a writing conference and how to get organized

Pinned: A boxer, a triple murder, an art mystery, a writing conference and how to get organized

Pinned this week for your storytelling pleasure: pieces on a jailhouse boxer, an old triple homicide in Texas, a billion dollars’ worth of recovered European art, a one-day writing conference and…
March 21, 2014
Audio Danger: Radio storytelling and the perils of digital permanence

Audio Danger: Radio storytelling and the perils of digital permanence

Back in the distant 1990s, This American Life host Ira Glass described a recurring dream of NPR’s Scott Simon: Simon would shoot a basketball over and over, but then it…
March 20, 2014

“Why’s this so good?” — The Spring Break edition

In our “Why’s this so good?” series, contributors break down a favorite piece of journalistic storytelling. In honor of this, the season of Spring Break, three great reads in first-person…
March 18, 2014
Want to write great narrative? Study screenwriting.

Want to write great narrative? Study screenwriting.

“That’s all fine,’’ the L.A. film executive said briskly, “but who’s the antagonist?’’Cut to: Me, author of a soon-to-be published biography of the 1940s/’50s wrestler and pop culture figure who…
March 14, 2014