Author

Andrea Pitzer

@andreapitzer

<a href="https://andreapitzer.com/bio/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Andrea Pitzer</strong></a> is the author of three books of narrative nonfiction that explore untold histories. She was the editor of Nieman Storyboard from 2009-2012,

Dorothy Parvaz released from detention in Iran

We’re thrilled to hear this morning that Iran has freed detained journalist (and 2009 Nieman fellow) Dorothy Parvaz. Alan Cowell and J. David Goodman reported in The New York Times…
2009 Nieman fellow Dorothy Parvaz detained: the scoop so far and what you can do

2009 Nieman fellow Dorothy Parvaz detained: the scoop so far and what you can do

[UPDATE: Good news! Iran has allowed Dorothy to return to Qatar. For more information, read our post on Dorothy’s release.]At a Nieman Foundation gathering over the weekend in Cambridge, a…

What’s in a name? Washingtonian renames and resurrects a story

This week's Notable Narrative,"What If Osama Bin Laden Had Been Captured?," recounts the interrogation of Saddam Hussein, taking readers through recent history to a more speculative present. The story, a…

What we’re reading: Hitchens speechless, marathon lunacy and a problematic police sting

From Leslie Jamison’s account of the extreme, bizarre Barkley Marathon to Christopher Hitchens’ meditation on what it means to lose the thing that has helped define him as a writer,…
Life in the cave: highlights from Boston University’s “The Rebirth of Storytelling” conference

Life in the cave: highlights from Boston University’s “The Rebirth of Storytelling” conference

What does it take to make a great story? Boston University’s “The Power of Narrative” conference, held on campus April 29-30, aimed to offer some insights. The event included the kind…
Ben Montgomery explores a mystery: &quot;This is a story about grief&quot;

Ben Montgomery explores a mystery: "This is a story about grief"

Yesterday our Editors’ Roundtable looked at “When a diver goes missing, a deep cave is scene of a deeper mystery,” by Ben Montgomery. An enterprise reporter at the St. Petersburg Times,…
May Editors' Roundtable: St. Petersburg Times dives into missing man mystery

May Editors’ Roundtable: St. Petersburg Times dives into missing man mystery

This month, the Editors’ Roundtable looks at “When a diver goes missing, a deep cave is scene of a deeper mystery” by Ben Montgomery of the St. Petersburg Times. The story, our…
Eliza Griswold on religion, violence and reporting

Eliza Griswold on religion, violence and reporting

We spoke last week with Eliza Griswold, winner of the 2011 J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize for “The Tenth Parallel: Dispatches from the Fault Line Between Christianity and Islam.” In…
Eli Saslow on writing news narratives, creating empathy and characters' defining moments

Eli Saslow on writing news narratives, creating empathy and characters’ defining moments

Our latest Notable Narrative comes from The Washington Post’s Eli Saslow, who wrote about a Wisconsin man’s attempt to understand what the federal budget debate means for his family. In…
Going small: the fragile world of a single constituent

Going small: the fragile world of a single constituent

Our latest Notable Narrative is a story from The Washington Post about Clarence Cammers, a Wisconsin man who asks a question at a town hall meeting with his congressman.So many…