You have a great idea. You’ve vetted it with trusted friends. You’ve done your pre-reporting — or at least some. You are jazzed and ready to pitch, and have a publication in your sights. Then you hit the tripwires: … Read more
Few writers can captivate an audience with a more than 16,000-word dive into the inner workings of a nursing home. But Katie Engelhart’s exploration of America’s first COVID hot-spot — the Life Care Center of Kirkland, Washington — is … Read more
I’ve been struggling to find the right term for the nonfiction writing I most admire. Whether written by Joan Didion, David Grann, Susan Orlean, Héctor Tobar, Isabel Wilkerson, or Gene Weingarten, these are articles, essays, and books that combine … Read more
I was re-reading an old essay of mine that I’d sent out nine times but could never sell. As I finished it, I thought, “Damn, I like this essay. Why did no one want it?” I decided to send … Read more
It was the kind of tweet a lot of people would thumb past with no more than a quick “like.” But when Jaweed Kaleem read about a one-woman Black Lives Matter protest in small-town America during this past raw-nerved … Read more
This past Labor Day, three reporters in Salem, Oregon were enjoying the holiday weekend. They’d done a good job preparing stories in advance so they wouldn’t have to scramble the next day to fill their news site, the … Read more
Editor’s Note: This is the first in an occasional series of posts that elaborate on some of the most basic weaknesses in story pitching. You can find other resources about pitching, including examples of successful pitches, … Read more
If the first rule of nonfiction is “write what you know,” then Melissa Fay Greene has embraced this principle like few others. She has spent her career chronicling the interior lives of families on the outside — those often … Read more
Reporters are always hunting for timely news pegs to resurface evergreen stories. More than a year after Jennifer Gollan’s arresting investigation into labor abuses against caregivers, coronavirus has offered a sobering hook: the pandemic that has wreaked havoc on … Read more
When the quarantine began in March, the lifestyles production unit at GBH Studio Six in Boston — which is responsible for a range of programming content, from cooking and travel television to documentaries on social … Read more
