Author

Jacqui Banaszynski

@JacquiB

Jacqui Banaszynski retired as the endowed Knight Chair in Editing at the Missouri School of Journalism in 2017, is editor at Nieman Storyboard, and a faculty fellow at the Poynter Institute. She won the 1988 Pulitzer Prize in feature writing for “AIDS in the Heartland,” a series about a gay farm couple facing AIDS, and was a finalist for the 1986 Pulitzer in international reporting for her account of the sub-Saharan famine.

Tempted to self-publish that book? Here are some things to know

Tempted to self-publish that book? Here are some things to know

Many — maybe most — journalists aspire to write a book. Back in the day, more than a few of them had a work-in-progress hidden in the bottom drawer of…
The multiplier effect of one good teacher

The multiplier effect of one good teacher

You know those pin-dot graphics that the data dudes produce that show how things are both clustered and connected? Things like who uses Twitter, or COVID rates in red- and…
Writing that dares to sing

Writing that dares to sing

In the mood for a musical interlude — one that doesn’t involve the endless loop of holiday classics? Consider “The Beatles: Get Back,” running now on Disney+. (Don’t have Disney+? Find…
How to tell a good story, by Stephen Sondheim: Hummable helps

How to tell a good story, by Stephen Sondheim: Hummable helps

Washington Post columnist Alexandra Petri pays tribute to the musical theater genius and "artifice (that) is in service of a higher truth."
Nerding out on big weather, a big lake and and a little Gordon Lightfoot

Nerding out on big weather, a big lake and and a little Gordon Lightfoot

First, let’s get this out of the way: Rumors of Gordon Lightfoot’s death, which have circulated on social media for 20 years now, continue to be premature. Apparently the Canadian…
The spiraling nature of news

The spiraling nature of news

The news just never takes a rest, does it? Or maybe it’s a variation on the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon, aka frequency bias: Once you’ve tapped into a certain story, related stories…
"It smelled like margarine and white bread, marriage and cramped flats."

“It smelled like margarine and white bread, marriage and cramped flats.”

Writing, at its best, is a visual art. It makes readers see. It paints scenes and action and characters in their minds. Brain science studies indicate that people actually hear…
Stumbling into a social media community

Stumbling into a social media community

A few words on social media. I’m not going to get mired in the meta-mess that is Meta, the New&Never Improved Facebook. That’s well-trod territory. I admire and envy friends…
#7 rule of pitching: Prove your skills and your passion

#7 rule of pitching: Prove your skills and your passion

Pitching a story you want to pursue is not the time to hide your light under that proverbial bushel — or to sell what you can't deliver
"That's what writing is, after all the nonsense..."

“That’s what writing is, after all the nonsense…”

Some book purists may cringe at this, but one test of a great book, to me, is how many pages are dogeared by the time I finish. Those are the…