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.

For the love of the (story) game

For the love of the (story) game

By Jacqui BanaszynskiThe fall equinox takes the Earth’s Northern Hemisphere into official autumn tonight. There’s already been a dusting of snow in the high Cascades that rise just west of…
How to write boring wonk

How to write boring wonk

By Jacqui BanaszynskiA message popped up on my Facebook message box that captured, in short form, a not-infrequent lament I hear from reporters who long to stretch into deeper, more…
A failed lunar landing and a successful marriage

A failed lunar landing and a successful marriage

Alex Traub's straightforward obit of astronaut wife Marilyn Lovell captures history, character and romance through perfectly selected details
Seed money for news, narrative and democracy

Seed money for news, narrative and democracy

By Jacqui BanaszynskiA hopeful-news detour from a study of the art and craft of story work, to the shaky business that supports that work. In this case, To summarize it,…
Story seeds from the garden

Story seeds from the garden

By Jacqui BanaszynskiEnjoy an end-of-summer delight, courtesy of Ashley Lodato, a columnist for the Methow Valley News in the far north Cascades of Washington state. Lodato’s writing has caught our…
A writer's education, from pen pals to bylines

A writer’s education, from pen pals to bylines

By Jacqui BanaszynskiOne of the back-to-school things I looked forward to in grade school was the Weekly Reader, a tab-sized newspaper that was handed out in class. I suppose it…
Read not just for the what of the story, but for the how of the writing

Read not just for the what of the story, but for the how of the writing

By Jacqui BanaszynskiImagine the directive in the image above is not an end game, but a prompt. What if you added something more descriptive? Read more broadly. Read more thoughtfully.…
Honor due reporter, editor and Nieman curator Robert H. Giles, 1933-2023

Honor due reporter, editor and Nieman curator Robert H. Giles, 1933-2023

By Jacqui BanaszynskiMy heart goes out, along with favorite story moments, to all who knew, worked with and loved Bob Giles. It also goes out to those of you who…
J-school beyond the textbook

J-school beyond the textbook

By Jacqui BanaszynskiAccording to my pre-Wordle morning scans of social media in recent days, it’s back-to-school time. That seems awfully early to me (What happened to waiting until after Labor…
Helping each other navigate obscure records and obdurate sources

Helping each other navigate obscure records and obdurate sources

By Jacqui BanaszynskiAt the many writing workshops I lead, the primary struggles reporters raise involve, duh, writing. But when six health-reporting fellows gathered recently, the challenges they brought to the…