Notable Narratives

The enduring power of John Hersey’s “Hiroshima”: the first “nonfiction novel”

On the 75th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb, Hersey's taut, unflinching story remains a masterpiece of narrative reporting

By Jacqui Banaszynski • August 6, 2020

John Hersey as a correspondent for TIME magazine in World War II, photographed in 1944 in an unknown location. He went on to write

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Strictly Q&A

How the “Beyonce of earthquakes” uses storytelling to explain science

Seismologist Lucy Jones mixes an "alchemy" of hard data and compelling imagery to relay messages about risk and response

By Alla Katsnelson • August 4, 2020

Personal Essays

When the bounds of conventional journalism are too tight

In "The Hero of Goodall Park," Tom Junod unraveled a 50-year-old secret — and helped fashion a new ending

By Brendan Meyer • July 31, 2020

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One Great Moment

“His conversation is so delightfully sauced …”

By Madeline Bodin
July 1, 2020

Robin Wall Kimmerer from an essay in "Braiding Sweetgrass"

Story Craft

What crisis reporting can teach about better sports reporting

By Reid Glenn
June 30, 2020

An award-winning sports reporter draws on three tools to find relevant stories in any situation

One Great Moment

“Violence of the light miraculous.”

By Jacqui Banaszynski
June 26, 2020

From the novel "The Dust That Falls from Dreams" by Louis de Bernieres

Strictly Q&A

Reporting the emotionally sensitive story through trauma and physical distance

By Rachael L. Kelley
June 25, 2020

An L.A. Times metro reporter leans on eight years covering South L.A., and on her humanity, to write about Nipsey Hussle, covid, racial injustice and more

Strictly Q&A

The route to a Pulitzer in opinion writing: rigorous reporting

By Madeline Bodin
June 24, 2020

A newcomer to a tiny newspaper in rural Texas brings fresh eyes, big-city experience, a drummer's rhythm, and some "swagger" to his editorials

Story Craft

The challenge of precision: As descriptors evolve, the press must be clear

By Patrick Garvin
June 18, 2020

A resource offers terms and definitions within the world of LGBTQ+

One Great Moment

“Words are living things. They have personality, point of view, agenda.”

By Trevor Pyle
June 16, 2020

Mads Mikkelsen as TV character Hannibal Lecter

One Great Moment

“They were tired, so tired and still they returned.”

By Jacqui Banaszynski
June 11, 2020

Washington Post staff

From the Editor

The challenge of writing a life in two lines

By Jacqui Banaszynski
June 10, 2020

How contemplating the essence of your own brief obituary can teach you how to report and write about others

From the Editor

A confluence of hard news that demands uncomfortable considerations

By Jacqui Banaszynski
June 9, 2020

Essays following the death of George Floyd challenge journalists to confront racial blindness in society, in their newsrooms and in themselves

Notable Narratives

How F. Scott Fitzgerald guided the hand and aspirations of a newspaper journalist

By Lisa Grace Lednicer
June 4, 2020

An editor and writer revisits the lessons she found, as a young reporter, embedded in Fitzgerald's short stories

Short Takes

Reading (Stephen King) to learn to write

By Jacqui Banaszynski
June 3, 2020

A "starter's guide" to the king of terror, from the New York Times, is a reminder that learning happens in many forms

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