In November and December, Texas Monthly‘s Pamela Colloff wrote a two-part series on the wrongful conviction of Michael Morton, who spent 25 years in prison in the murder of his wife, Christine. Colloff’s story was not the first … Read more
In all likelihood, “The Cipher in Room 214” began with a fairly empty notebook. Most stories do, but in this case it probably looked like it was going to stay that way. The quotes that the Seattle Post-Intelligencer‘s Carol Smith … Read more
Everybody’s read his latest? Great. WILMINGTON, N.C. — They are old men now, the doctor and the lawyer, ancient adversaries confronting each other one last time. The doctor shuffles into the courtroom, his feet in socks and slippers, his … Read more
By now you’ve probably heard the story: In October 2011, a suicidal man named Terry Thompson uncaged dozens of wild animals that he kept on his farm in Zanesville, Ohio, and then shot himself. The sheriff’s department spent a tense … Read more
Narrative isn’t synonymous with long-form work. A narrative journalist doesn’t need thousands of words or loads of reporting and writing time to tell a memorable story. For you hunter-gatherers of short-form models, consider: … Read more
Our latest Notable Narrative is “Sunk,” a detailed narrative of the deadly capsizing of the tall ship HMS Bounty during Hurricane Sandy. Kathryn … Read more
The subject of death has proven inexhaustible, from the Greeks to Hamlet to E.B. White’s pig. In “The End,” Ben Ehrenreich examines The Inevitable from an unexpected postmortem angle, and with a clever bit of a wink. The story explores death … Read more
The Oregonian’s Anna Griffin wrote a story last Sunday about a small but rare and memorable moment in high school sports. Deadspin set it up this way: A young man named Davan Overton in unincorporated Oregon plays on his high school … Read more
Our storytelling advice column continues: A journalist asks a question and we find an accomplished narrative writer or editor to answer it. In our first installment, Dave Tarrant of the Dallas Morning News had a question about how to … Read more
Last summer, John Jeremiah Sullivan wrote an essay about Faulkner’s Absalom! Absalom!, and amid his deft and borderline genius thoughts on the novel – “It…dramatize[s] historical consciousness itself, not just human lives but the forest of time in which … Read more