Notable Narratives

Like “Thembi’s Diary”, this story takes us into its characters’ world without the use of a narrator. It’s an approach that can provide exceptional immediacy. In this piece, a soldier…

Finkel shows his knack, once again, for crafting newspaper stories with a writerly, particularly human point of view. He doesn’t just write technically compelling scenes; he lets his readers in…

This story reconstructs the experience of Johan Otter, who was attacked by a grizzly while hiking in Glacier National Park with his daughter. The first section tells the story of…

Thembi Ngubane is one of the most compelling characters we’ve encountered in a nonfiction narrative. She is an exceptionally likable narrator, both open in her feelings and poised in her…

We admired the cinematic quality of this piece. Raghavan moves his lens from image to image, providing vivid concrete detail, at times moving in close, at other times stepping back…

This series was written and reported by Thomas Farragher and Patricia Wen. It recounts the experiences of a couple and their two sons. One son is straight, the other gay.…

This piece is about guilt, loyalty and the relationship between ordinary Americans and soldiers fighting in Iraq. It’s also a good test case for the "It’s not about you" principle…

This is an engaging reconstruction. It’s very explicitly reconstruction, with its retrospective and explanatory quotes. It’s a tale of a man reflecting on his life, telling his story, after many…

Scenes, character, a human voice and the first person soften and enliven the investigative approach in this piece about gruesome deaths on Western oil and gas fields. Lacking clear statistical…

Not long after reading this quasi-narrative about U.S. soldiers who have deserted the military, we came across a piece in The New York Times about increased prosecutions of such deserters.…