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Triple profile: A mountain town, a beloved newspaper, and an unlikely hero

Triple profile: A mountain town, a beloved newspaper, and an unlikely hero

A veteran foreign correspondent finds a hero tale in a tiny California town: "A story is a story no matter where it takes place."
May 6, 2020
A "nut case" buys a mountain town newspaper to save it

A “nut case” buys a mountain town newspaper to save it

Four months after acting on impulse, what has a non-journalist local hero learned about the romance and reality of journalism?
May 6, 2020
Congratulations to the 2020 Pulitzer Prize winners

Congratulations to the 2020 Pulitzer Prize winners

There are awards upon awards in journalism. But since its launch in 1917, the Pulitzer Prizes have set the gold standard for newspaper reporting, writing, commentary, photography and more. The…
May 4, 2020
"How was it I had let all wonder, all curiosity, seep from me?"

“How was it I had let all wonder, all curiosity, seep from me?”

Esi EdugyanA little more than half-way through Esi Edugyan’s fine novel, we are with her protagonist at a rude boarding house in Nova Scotia. It is 1834, and Washington Black…
May 1, 2020
Where writers write when they can't write where they like to write

Where writers write when they can’t write where they like to write

Two-time National Magazine Award winner Tom Junod often writes from home. But not always, and especially not on deadline. In a recent Facebook post, he mentioned that when he is…
April 29, 2020
Take small steps to tell the big story: Make free writing a daily discipline

Take small steps to tell the big story: Make free writing a daily discipline

This column was originally published as an issue of Nieman Storyboard’s weekly newsletter. You can read back issues of the newsletter and subscribe here.Thoughts this week turn to the creativity…
April 28, 2020
Building writing muscles — a postcard a day

Building writing muscles — a postcard a day

An award-winning sports reporter learns to relax his professional writing by penning personal notes on postcards
April 28, 2020
A Writer's Survival Guide: Tips for defying distraction

A Writer’s Survival Guide: Tips for defying distraction

One moderately productive, relatively-sane freelancer’s approach to writing through a crisis
April 23, 2020
Deadline writing when the world is in chaos, your house is imploding and kids are home from school

Deadline writing when the world is in chaos, your house is imploding and kids are home from school

EDITOR’S NOTE: This essay first appeared in The Cabin, a center for writers in Idaho. It is used with permission. Also, read Kim Cross’s Writer’s Survival Guide: Tips for defying…
April 22, 2020
Can deep reporting answer the ultimate coronavirus question: How will it end?

Can deep reporting answer the ultimate coronavirus question: How will it end?

One of the things that distinguishes the coronavirus outbreak from disasters that have come before is the disorienting flood of research and information. Credit — or blame — that on…
April 21, 2020