Author

Thomas Curwen

@tcurwen

Thomas Curwen is a writer for the Los Angeles Times. His 2007 story “Attacked by a Grizzly” was a finalist for a 2008 Pulitzer Prize in Feature Writing.

The narrative of the year behind? Start now

The narrative of the year behind? Start now

Come the close of any calendar year, and look-back pieces are as common as failed New Year resolutions. At the close of a decade — even more.So when one rises…
January 1, 2020
More on nut grafs: A sweet addendum

More on nut grafs: A sweet addendum

EDITOR’S NOTE: Storyboard recently revisited the long-standing debate over the ‘nut graf’ — variably called the summary nut, the billboard, the transition, the significance graf, the so-what passage, the foreshadow. Veteran writer…
February 12, 2019
Finding lessons for literary journalism in the poetry of Rust Belt chronicler Phil Levine

Finding lessons for literary journalism in the poetry of Rust Belt chronicler Phil Levine

His poems about his hometown, Detroit, were almost cinematic in a precision of detail that would embarrass the most economic writer
December 5, 2017
“Why’s this so good?” No. 33: Michael Paterniti’s painted ghosts

“Why’s this so good?” No. 33: Michael Paterniti’s painted ghosts

It was summer; it was winter. The village disappeared behind skeins of fog. Fishermen came and went in boats named Reverence, Granite Prince, Souwester.Whenever I find my writing drifting into…
March 13, 2012