Author

Chip Scanlan

@chipscanlan

After two decades as an award-winning journalist, Chip Scanlan taught writing at The Poynter Institute from 1994-2009. His credits include The New York Times, NPR, The Washington Post Magazine and The American Scholar; two essays were listed as notables in Best American Essays. He lives and writes in St. Petersburg, Florida, and publishes Chip’s Writing Lessons, a newsletter of tips and inspiration.

Reconstructing a fractured life and broken system

Reconstructing a fractured life and broken system

L.A. Times reporter Thomas Curwen traced the life of one schizophrenia sufferer to tell a bigger story of society's challenges with mental health
Spending time to report a meditation on the long tail of grief

Spending time to report a meditation on the long tail of grief

A team from The New York Times immersed itself in Uvalde, Texas, after the "media horde" left and showed the fuller horror of a mass shooting
Hearing stories from behind the burqa

Hearing stories from behind the burqa

New Yorker writer Anand Gopal worked through layers of sources to enter the veiled world of Afghan women under Taliban rule
How Rolling Stone revisited a mass tragedy to 'humanize the horrendous'

How Rolling Stone revisited a mass tragedy to ‘humanize the horrendous’

After the Florida condo collapse, Matt Sullivan vowed not to forget a teen survivor. The year-later profile has credibility, empathy and a haunting ending
A reporter explores the laws and emotion involved in helping her father die

A reporter explores the laws and emotion involved in helping her father die

Bloomberg investigative reporter Esmé Deprez researched a range of death-with-dignity issues after becoming her father's end-of-life partner
Viewing the COVID divide through tensions in one rural community

Viewing the COVID divide through tensions in one rural community

AP reporter Tim Sullivan found a small town on the Minnesota prairie to explore the political chasms exposed by COVID
How Rachel Aviv of The New Yorker exposed the "troubled teen industry"

How Rachel Aviv of The New Yorker exposed the “troubled teen industry”

Aviv scoured court records, social media and personal journals to reveal the abuses of a system of unregulated Christian boarding schools
A profile of one family divided by vaccine politics reflects the divide of a nation

A profile of one family divided by vaccine politics reflects the divide of a nation

Peter Jamison of The Washington Post immerses into the emotional chasm of a family struggling with divergent views and a sudden death
Immersing into the lives of children damaged by gun violence, and laws that don't stop it

Immersing into the lives of children damaged by gun violence, and laws that don’t stop it

For the past five years, John Woodrow Cox has worked to master the art of helping children talk about a fraught but rarely covered subject — the long-term physical and…
How to turn a theme and 900 words into sense-of-place poetry

How to turn a theme and 900 words into sense-of-place poetry

Kim Cross used smart pre-reporting, creative hustle and a night on a trampoline to find freedom in a reported essay about freedom