Search results for “5+questions”

Showing 792 results

"Why’s this so good?" No. 65: David Grann and the death row prisoner

Four years ago, I began looking into the case of Cameron Todd Willingham, who was put to death by the state of Texas in 2004. Willingham had been convicted of…
November 20, 2012
“Why’s this so good?” No. 53: Phyllis Fletcher on Ina Ray Hutton’s secret

“Why’s this so good?” No. 53: Phyllis Fletcher on Ina Ray Hutton’s secret

Phyllis Fletcher opens this wonderful piece of rescued history and solved mystery with a simple declaration: “Ina Ray Hutton was a stone cold fox.” The correct response to this kind…
August 7, 2012

"Why’s this so good?" No. 51: Gary Smith and Coach O’Leary’s lies

We may as well begin the way Gary Smith begins – with a question, and near the end. Why is it that when you finish reading “Lying in Wait,” Smith’s…
July 24, 2012

The essence of story, in a 358-word song

When I was little, my mama worked the early shift at the seafood plant. She’d drop me off at my Aunt Janice’s house before dawn and they’d lay me down…
February 14, 2012
National Book Award winner T.J. Stiles on telling good stories and asking big questions

National Book Award winner T.J. Stiles on telling good stories and asking big questions

T.J. Stiles, author of Jesse James: Last Rebel of the Civil War, won a National Book Award in November for his second biography, The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of…
January 25, 2010

Flight 1549 Survivor Got Out of the Hudson, Back into the Air

This month’s first Notable Narrative invites the reader in just before takeoff and then follows Casey Jones—who survived the U.S. Airways crash landing in the Hudson River—as he returns to…
May 1, 2009
How we reveal our character

How we reveal our character

Scenes from an election week. Plus: Selling a book proposal and the value of a ‘flop’
November 7, 2025
Meet the main characters: How six writers introduce their subjects to the reader

Meet the main characters: How six writers introduce their subjects to the reader

From the Nieman Storyboard archives: the descriptions, the scenes, and the internal thoughts that bring characters to life in narrative nonfiction
November 7, 2025
‘Surprise is magic in journalism’

‘Surprise is magic in journalism’

Author Claudia Rowe on writing about the foster care system. Plus: Keeping your day job while publishing books with Erin Somers
October 24, 2025
National Book Award finalist Claudia Rowe on writing about teens and the foster care system

National Book Award finalist Claudia Rowe on writing about teens and the foster care system

The author of ‘Wards of the State’ on preparing sources to be part of a book and covering the foster care system-to-incarceration pipeline
October 23, 2025