Editor’s note: The tragic news last week of suicides by creative celebrities Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain captured headlines and emotions. But despair does not discriminate. Storyboard contributor Julia Shipley…

Why is it so great? I have come to love bagpipes, perhaps because they conjur special moments in my life, perhaps because they are rooted in my maternal heritage. But…

Nigeria is a country rich in stories and in storytelling. Nigerians have long traditions of sharing their testimonies through literature and visual communication. The work of writers like Chinua Achebe…

Why is it great? I read Allison’s “Bastard Out of Carolina” when it was first published, about the time I was covering a range of social justice issues – gender,…

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

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…

In the first half of my Nieman Fellowship, a great number of class discussions revolved around analyzing the outcome of the election that brought Donald Trump to power.Why had it…

The L.A. Times Book Festival, held over the weekend of April 21-22, is an annual celebration of reading and literary culture in a town often stereotyped as not exactly bookish.…

Fans of the PBS program “Frontline” are familiar with the news documentary series’ format: its staccato theme music, vaguely reminiscent of a typewriter; the sober voice-over narration of Will Lyman,…

—Pioneering environmentalist Rachel Carson