Author

Paige Williams

@williams_paige

Paige Williams writes for The New Yorker and is an associate professor at the Missouri School of Journalism. Winner of the National Magazine Award for feature writing in 2008, and a finalist in 2011 and 2009 (shared) , she has been anthologized in five volumes of the Best American series, including twice in The Best American Magazine Writing. She is the former editor of Nieman Storyboard and has taught narrative nonfiction at Harvard, M.I.T., NYU, Emory, the University of Pittsburgh, and at her alma mater, the University of Mississippi. She was a '97 Nieman Fellow and holds an MFA in fiction from Columbia University. Her narrative nonfiction book "The Dinosaur Artist" is forthcoming, from Hachette, in Fall 2016.

Amy Ellis Nutt and the wreck of the Lady Mary, Part 2

Amy Ellis Nutt and the wreck of the Lady Mary, Part 2

In Part 2 of our annotation of Amy Ellis Nutt's Pulitzer-winning "The Wreck of the Lady Mary," Nutt, of the Newark Star-Ledger, explains how the investigative track of her five-chapter…

Amy Ellis Nutt and the wreck of the Lady Mary, Part 1

This is the third in an occasional series of line-by-lines with narrative writers and their work, adapted from a project called Annotation Tuesday! on Tumblr. Earlier, we featured the Tampa Bay Times‘ Michael…
Eli Saslow on detail, dignity, nut grafs, patience, reporting v. writing, and what's in his notebook

Eli Saslow on detail, dignity, nut grafs, patience, reporting v. writing, and what’s in his notebook

Our latest Notable Narrative is an Eli Saslow story called “Life of a salesman,” about a swimming-pool salesman struggling in a terrible economy. Yesterday, we listed some of the story’s…

Eli Saslow and the swimming pool salesman

Eli Saslow’s stories for the Washington Post and ESPN The Magazine show a narrative journalist in control of his craft. The guy is incapable of writing a forgettable story. If…
"Why's this so good?" by the numbers: Readers' choice

"Why’s this so good?" by the numbers: Readers’ choice

We’re coming upon our  65th installment of “Why’s this so good?” – in which notable journalists dissect their favorite pieces of narrative journalism. Our contributors have included Adam Hochschild, Jennifer B.…
Building better sentences: Connie Hale on verbs, nouns, Vikings, scenes, geekspeak, grammar wars and rewiring bad lines

Building better sentences: Connie Hale on verbs, nouns, Vikings, scenes, geekspeak, grammar wars and rewiring bad lines

In Vex, Hex, Smash, Smooch, her new book on writing and language, journalist and writing teacher Constance Hale explores the world of verbs. Hale, a Hawaii native who lives in…
Vex, Hex, Smash, Smooch: All Hale verbs

Vex, Hex, Smash, Smooch: All Hale verbs

Word nerds, you’ll want to stock up on yellow highlighters for Vex, Hex, Smash, Smooch, Constance Hale’s newest book on writing and language. In her follow-up to Sin and Syntax,…
Politics & storytelling, a sampler: Thompson, McGinniss, Sullivan, Lepore, Bowden, Bellow

Politics & storytelling, a sampler: Thompson, McGinniss, Sullivan, Lepore, Bowden, Bellow

Why hasn’t anybody Hunter S. Thompsonized this election? Or have they, and we missed it? Esquire’s Charlie Pierce approacheth –In the interest of keeping you abreast of news that hasn't…
"The Power of Storytelling," Part 4: Chris Jones on why stories matter, Pat Walters on endings, Walt Harrington on integrity

"The Power of Storytelling," Part 4: Chris Jones on why stories matter, Pat Walters on endings, Walt Harrington on integrity

In Part 3 of our recap of Romania's "Power of Storytelling" conference on narrative journalism, radio producer Starlee Kine talked about story forms and themes; Esquire's Mike Sager talked about listening, and about suspending disbelief;…
"The Power of Storytelling," Part 3: Starlee Kine on story forms, Mike Sager on suspending disbelief and Alex Tizon on writing your own story

"The Power of Storytelling," Part 3: Starlee Kine on story forms, Mike Sager on suspending disbelief and Alex Tizon on writing your own story

In Part 2 of our recap of Romania's "Power of Storytelling" conference on narrative journalism, Pulitzer winner Jacqui Banaszynski wrote a short essay about why she and eight other North American…