Author

Lauren Kessler

@laurenjkessler

Lauren Kessler is a narrative journalist who specializes in exploring invisible subcultures in our midst. The author of 15 books, she has written about life in a maximum security prison, the demands of ballet and the surprisingly vibrant world of those with Alzheimer’s. She ran a writing group for lifers inside a maximum security penitentiary and has volunteered as a mentor at a prison reentry services nonprofit. Founder and director of a graduate program in literary journalism at the University of Oregon, she currently teaches storytelling for social change at the University of Washington.

What to do when you write the kinds of stories you find hard to read

What to do when you write the kinds of stories you find hard to read

Every morning I wake up and do exactly what selfcarefederation.org and everydayhealth.com and verywellmind.com and all those other “take care of yourself” sites and blogs and organizations tell me not…
September 20, 2022
Hacking and whacking the way to writing clarity — and pie

Hacking and whacking the way to writing clarity — and pie

An author and freelancer contemplates story craft as she tames and harvests the blackberry brambles on her land
August 25, 2022
Unlearning old-school lessons from a J-school education

Unlearning old-school lessons from a J-school education

Two months into my just-the-facts-ma’am, inverted pyramid life as a novice reporter assigned to cover every commission had that ever been formed anywhere in any municipality on Earth at any…
August 11, 2022
So you want to write a book? Brace yourself for some serious self-promotion and, yes, TikTok

So you want to write a book? Brace yourself for some serious self-promotion and, yes, TikTok

It was the mid-1990s. I was sitting across a white damask table-clothed table at a midtown Manhattan steak house watching my editor, Bob Loomis, alternately cut into a ribeye and…
July 13, 2022
Stories behind bars: The power and pitfalls of "emotional truths"

Stories behind bars: The power and pitfalls of “emotional truths”

When I began reading Evan Allen’s powerful, critically acclaimed Boston Globe story about Anthony Pledger, all I could think about was Jimmie. Jimmie is a violent offender — a sanitized…
May 13, 2022
"To the press alone, checkered as it is with abuses, the world is indebted for all the triumphs which have been gained by reason and humanity over error and oppression."

“To the press alone, checkered as it is with abuses, the world is indebted for all the triumphs which have been gained by reason and humanity over error and oppression.”

Standing in the lobby of the gloriously ornate Chicago Tribune Tower, gazing  at this James Madison quote, I am filled with pride. And fear. The pride stems not only from…
September 19, 2018