Narrative News

Anna Badkhen on her two books about war and a decade as a "professional intruder"

Anna Badkhen on her two books about war and a decade as a "professional intruder"

I had a chance to sit down last week with Anna Badkhen in Washington, D.C., to talk about her two books out this year, “Peace Meals” and “Waiting for the Taliban”…
October 25, 2010
Andrea Pitzer

Ralph Berrier on war, music and memoir: "it fell to me to do it"

We talked this week with Ralph Berrier Jr., Roanoke Times reporter and author of “If Trouble Don't Kill Me.” Recounting 1930s country music history and battles on three continents during…
October 14, 2010
Andrea Pitzer
Michael Jones on heroes, villains and the science of narrative

Michael Jones on heroes, villains and the science of narrative

We spoke last week with Michael D. Jones, who is applying statistics to narrative here at Harvard during his fellowship at the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics. Jones, who…
September 28, 2010
Andrea Pitzer
Colin Harrison and Sam Gwynne on the editor-writer partnership, going deep and the difference between a subject and a story

Colin Harrison and Sam Gwynne on the editor-writer partnership, going deep and the difference between a subject and a story

In yet more goodness from July's Mayborn Conference, we're happy to post this conversation between Colin Harrison, who is currently senior editor at Scribner, and S.C. "Sam" Gwynne, author of "Empire of…
September 21, 2010
Andrea Pitzer

Tom French on zoo stories, narrative nonfiction and the pleasures of playing anthropologist

In 2007, St. Petersburg Times reporter Tom French delivered a nine-part series about Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo, which led to the writing of "Zoo Story," published in July. In his book,…
September 14, 2010
Andrea Pitzer
L.A. Times reporter Christopher Goffard on structure, sympathy and how to make a story go: "The same thing that’s going to make people sit through a movie will make them sit through a 10,000-word series"

L.A. Times reporter Christopher Goffard on structure, sympathy and how to make a story go: "The same thing that’s going to make people sit through a movie will make them sit through a 10,000-word series"

For "Project 50: Four walls and a bed," our latest Notable Narrative, reporter Christopher Goffard spent two years following a Los Angeles-area program aimed at finding the most at-risk homeless…
September 10, 2010
Andrea Pitzer

Tommy Tomlinson on Ze Frank, newspapers and what comes next

Tommy Tomlinson has been a local columnist for The Charlotte Observer for the past 13 years but recently announced that he's switching jobs to embark on a storytelling experiment for…
September 7, 2010
Andrea Pitzer

In with the new: the 2010-11 Nieman fellows arrive

The new group of Nieman fellows has arrived in Cambridge and will be spending this academic year diving into Harvard courses and research opportunities. I’ve taken the time talk one-on-one…
September 1, 2010
Andrea Pitzer
Hank Stuever on story structure, really reporting Christmas and the problem with the "sacred space" approach to narrative

Hank Stuever on story structure, really reporting Christmas and the problem with the "sacred space" approach to narrative

Washington Post reporter Hank Stuever writes in a variety of  narrative forms, from books to punchy television reviews and features. His latest book, "Tinsel: A Search for America's Christmas Present,"…
August 20, 2010
Andrea Pitzer
Laurie Hertzel on growing up in newspapers and what she learned from the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

Laurie Hertzel on growing up in newspapers and what she learned from the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

In "News to Me," Laurie Hertzel writes about life as an ink-stained wretch during nearly 20 years at the Duluth News Tribune. Now books editor at the (Minneapolis) Star Tribune,…
August 18, 2010
Andrea Pitzer