Author

Erika Hayasaki

Erika Hayasaki is an author and independent journalist who teaches in the Literary Journalism Program at the University of California, Irvine. She publishes a newsletter on nonfiction craft and freelancing, The Reported Essay.

Annotation: The award-winning book proposal that became Lorraine Boissoneault's ‘Body Weather’

Annotation: The award-winning book proposal that became Lorraine Boissoneault’s ‘Body Weather’

Boissoneault, whose proposal won the J. Anthony Lukas Work-in-Progress Award in 2024, breaks down how she wrote it
June 10, 2026
Telling true stories: the hardest part

Telling true stories: the hardest part

‘We're navigating in a sea of ambiguity.’ Plus: Kim Cross on expository asides, and the American Mosaic Journalism Prize
February 13, 2026
Author Grace Talusan on going to uncomfortable places in your writing

Author Grace Talusan on going to uncomfortable places in your writing

Talusan, who teaches creative nonfiction at Brown University, asks her students to first challenge themselves in small ways
January 15, 2026
Revisiting the historical narrative in a reported memoir

Revisiting the historical narrative in a reported memoir

Sara Kehaulani Goo tells a personal story about Maui. Plus: what happens when your subjects don't like your story?
August 22, 2025