Search results for “the pitch”

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"Why’s this so good?" No. 48: Burkhard Bilger noodles a catfish

The story I want to tell you about, “In the Monster's Maw,” was published in 1997, and that's important. Because in 1997, when Burkhard Bilger went out to Oklahoma for…
June 27, 2012

"Why’s this so good?" No. 46: David Gonzalez and faith

When I decided to become a journalist, I believed that I had to choose between writing and my love for visual imagery and sound. David Gonzalez’s “House Afire,” a three-part…
June 12, 2012

“Why’s this so good?” No. 45: Adam Sternbergh on … walking

Let’s start with the headline. Sometimes, when I am trying to headline a piece and my heds are getting more and more punny and convoluted, I gather myself and remember…
June 5, 2012

“Why’s this so good?” No. 44: Robert Kurson and the blind man

My love affair with narrative nonfiction was in its early stages when I first read Robert Kurson’s “Into the Light,” in the June 2005 edition of Esquire. I was mostly…
May 29, 2012
Work we love: a multimedia look at secret slavery, a portrait of fantasy baseball’s founder and dueling Robert Caro profiles

Work we love: a multimedia look at secret slavery, a portrait of fantasy baseball’s founder and dueling Robert Caro profiles

Our bookmarks have been busy lately what with all the good stuff to read and watch and hear. Some of our recent favorites hail from CNN.com, Grantland, the New York…
May 4, 2012
Getting the story: Luke Dittrich and the tornado

Getting the story: Luke Dittrich and the tornado

In Thursday’s post we excerpted nice lines from the five National Magazine Award finalists in feature writing. These included Luke Dittrich’s “Heavenly Father!...,” from Esquire, about survivors of the Joplin,…
April 13, 2012
“Why’s this so good?” No. 34: Buzz Bissinger trails a fabulist

“Why’s this so good?” No. 34: Buzz Bissinger trails a fabulist

So, you, a journalist, are given this ridiculous, outrageous assignment: Write a story about one of your own, a writer who betrayed your profession on a spectacular scale. It’s the…
March 20, 2012
“Why’s this so good?” No. 24: Gay Talese on Joe DiMaggio

“Why’s this so good?” No. 24: Gay Talese on Joe DiMaggio

“Do you know how George Washington died?” my girlfriend asked one evening last week. I was busy working on this piece, and in truth, I had no idea. Because after he…
December 13, 2011
Gay Talese has a Coke*: reflections of a narrative legend, in conversation with Esquire's Chris Jones

Gay Talese has a Coke*: reflections of a narrative legend, in conversation with Esquire’s Chris Jones

Continuing the Nieman Foundation narrative writing speaker series set up by Paige Williams, journalism legend Gay Talese appeared on campus two weeks ago in conversation with Esquire’s Chris Jones. The Harvard…
December 2, 2011
Chris Jones on reporting for detail, the case against outlining and the power of donuts

Chris Jones on reporting for detail, the case against outlining and the power of donuts

Esquire writer at large Chris Jones came to the Nieman Foundation two weeks ago as part of the Narrative Writing speakers series I started at the foundation last year, and spent a…
December 1, 2011