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

By Chip Scanlan When Rick Rojas became a national correspondent for The New York Times, a colleague told him to focus on the second word of his new title. As correspondents,…
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’

In the first half of 2021, Matt Sullivan and his family took refuge in Miami from the pandemic in New York City, and to finish his first book, “Can’t Knock…
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

It’s no surprise to Tim Sullivan that major news outlets like CNN or his employer, the Associated Press, are taking flak from conservatives for peddling “fake news.” But he was…
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

With Thanksgiving upon us, families across America will gather around tables laden with roast turkey and pumpkin pie. Or not.During the Trump era, squabbles over politics disrupted a holiday that…
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