Author

Kim Cross

@KimHCross

Kim Cross a full-time freelance writer and author of "What Stands in a Storm," a New York Times best-selling account of the biggest tornado outbreak on record. She loves meticulously reported literary nonfiction and discovering narrative craft in unexpected places.

Unearthing L.A. through a tribal tongue

Unearthing L.A. through a tribal tongue

In November 2017, Los Angeles Times staff writer Thomas Curwen noticed an email subject line that intrigued him: UCLA linguist seeking to awaken the sleeping language of the Tongva –…
July 10, 2019
Building a museum with jars of dirt, and building stories from the ground up

Building a museum with jars of dirt, and building stories from the ground up

 One day last October, Cara Solomon sat alone in an empty field in Alabama, the unmarked site of a lynching. She wasn’t carrying a reporter’s notebook or thinking yet about…
February 26, 2019
Five life hacks for beating writer's block

Five life hacks for beating writer’s block

Every writer procrastinates. Even John McPhee, one of the most prolific writers of our time. “I’ll go hours before I’m able to write a word,” he has said. “I’ll make tea. I…
January 8, 2019
How film class led to fighting wildfires which led to finding a home which led to a memoir

How film class led to fighting wildfires which led to finding a home which led to a memoir

In a full-circle illustration of the way life sometimes imitates art, screenwriting led Sarah Berns to smokejumping. Then smokejumping led to a cinematic memoir, written with a director’s eye and…
December 11, 2018
When syncopation rocks a nation: "Hamilton" enthralls fifth-graders (and parents) with a rockin' story of history

When syncopation rocks a nation: “Hamilton” enthralls fifth-graders (and parents) with a rockin’ story of history

One honey-glazed autumn afternoon, I watched a tangle of fifth-graders playing Capture the Flag in a park in Boise, Idaho. Their favorite soundtrack blared in the background: Alexander Hamilton. My name…
November 28, 2018