A recent One Great Sentence post, about a line from Dan Zak’s essay for the Washington Post about the political culture of Iowa, inspired me to add a few thoughts. The sentence in question is the … Read more
When Reuters, the venerable global news agency, hired narrative veteran Kari Howard to be its first Storytelling Editor, she brought three principles to guide reporters in the field: Examine closely. Connect with people. Don’t rush. To see those principles … Read more
In the seven years since Max Linsky co-founded the Longform Podcast (with Evan Ratliff and Aaron Lammer), he has interviewed hundreds of storytelling luminaries: journalists, non-fiction writers and public figures. That includes “Wild” author Cheryl … Read more
Two days to deadline. You haven’t written a word — just scribbles and a few sad-faced glyphs in the margins of a skeletal outline. You’re surrounded by great raw material —a tower of notes, a transcribed interview, and three … Read more
If there were no Robert Caro, he could not easily be invented. Consider the job description: Commit your career to exhaustive research into the lives of two legendarily powerful men, produce a tome every eight or 10 or 12 … Read more
EDITOR’S NOTE: We came across this interview with freelance journalist Barry Yeoman on the Creatives in Conversation site, run by Allison Kirkland, and are so glad we did. Because now we know about one more … Read more
I wasn’t sure what to expect. This would be my first time attending the Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference and, as in any situation where I’m faced with the unknown, I was … Read more
Journalism that explores “true crime” is booming, in everything from investigative stories to books to gripping TV documentaries. But it can easily risk being exploitative. That cautionary note comes from Pamela Colloff, whose justice … Read more
EDITOR’S NOTE: Because the world can’t seem to get enough of “Game of Thrones,” we are co-publishing this essay with our friends at The Poynter Institute, with their permission. I have watched all 73 … Read more
Conference panels can be frustrating things. Several subject experts droning on, absorbed with the minutiae of their own work, sometimes failing to make bigger points, often repeating what other panelists have already said, usually running over the allotted time, … Read more
