books

Turning a newspaper project into a book: Christopher Goffard on "You Will See Fire"

Turning a newspaper project into a book: Christopher Goffard on "You Will See Fire"

We recently noticed that Los Angeles Times reporter Christopher Goffard had expanded a series he had done for the paper into the book “You Will See Fire.” We’ve talked with…
February 24, 2012
Andrea Pitzer

When journalists become authors: a few cautionary tips

There’s long-form narrative, and then there’s book-length narrative. Both are “long,” but a story that’s 300 pages long is a different proposition, for both writer and reader, from one that’s…
December 15, 2011
Peter Ginna

When I write the book: Nieman Reports on journalists who wrestle with long long-form

The Winter issue of Nieman Reports, with the theme “Writing the Book,” is now online. It includes contributions from digital publishers, narrative writers, and a passel of journalists who have…
December 14, 2011
Andrea Pitzer
Memoir's truthy obligations: a handy how-to guide

Memoir's truthy obligations: a handy how-to guide

How true does a memoir have to be? That question has been the basis of an ongoing debate kicked off by the revelation, five years ago, that much of James…
July 28, 2011
Ben Yagoda
Isabel Wilkerson on the Great Migration, structuring an epic narrative and the challenges of writing nonfiction

Isabel Wilkerson on the Great Migration, structuring an epic narrative and the challenges of writing nonfiction

Continuing the spring flurry of awards, Columbia University and the Nieman Foundation announced last week that the 2011 Mark Lynton History Prize will be awarded to Isabel Wilkerson for her…
April 4, 2011
Andrea Pitzer
Laurie Hertzel on growing up in newspapers and what she learned from the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

Laurie Hertzel on growing up in newspapers and what she learned from the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

In "News to Me," Laurie Hertzel writes about life as an ink-stained wretch during nearly 20 years at the Duluth News Tribune. Now books editor at the (Minneapolis) Star Tribune,…
August 18, 2010
Andrea Pitzer
Mary Karr on truth: "the least of my problems as a memoirist, as a writer, is getting my facts right"

Mary Karr on truth: "the least of my problems as a memoirist, as a writer, is getting my facts right"

Author Mary Karr showed up Friday in Grapevine, Texas, in the middle of a thunderstorm to talk about telling the truth. The first keynote speaker at the Mayborn Literary Nonfiction…
July 28, 2010
Andrea Pitzer
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
Laurie Hertzel